Primus
by Emperor KingPerby
Summary: For every action, there is a consequence. From a bloody betrayal, to fleeting freedom, from killing and from being killed, there is always a consequence.
1. chapter 1

Two men cry out in a forgotten age. The roar of the slayer harmonises with the scream of the slain. In this early age, when mankind still feared spirits of fire and prayed to false gods for the sun to rise, the murder of another is the darkest of deeds.

Blood marks the mans face, just as it marks the crude spear in his clenched fists and the rocks beneath his victim. The wound gouts and sprays - the man tastes the red wine of his fellow man's vein, feeling the bloods heat wgere it lands on his bearded skin,tasting of metals yet undiscovered and seas yet unseen. As the hot salt of spilt life burns his tongue, the man knows with Impossible clarity.

He is the first.

Mankind - in its myriad of forms on the thousandfold path from wretched dust-thing to warm-blooded mammal - has always fought to survive. Even as hunched ape-creatures and brutish proto-men, it waged insignificant and miserable wars on itself with fists and teeth and rocks.

Yet this man is the first. Not the first to hate, nor even the first to kill.

He is the first to take life in cold blood. He is the first to murder.

His dying victims thrashing hand reaches for him, raking dirty nails across sweating skin. Seeking mercy or vengeance? The man doesn't know, and in his rage he doesn't care. He drives the wooden spear deeper into the yielding hardness of meat and against the scrape of bone. Still he screams, still he roars.

The scream of the first murder cuts through the veil, echoing across reality and unreality alike.

To the things that wait in the darkness, mankind will never sing a sweeter song.

Behind the veil, the scream takes a carnival of forms, riotous and infinite in variety. The frail laws of physics that so coldly govern reality have no power - here, those binding codes fracture into their separate fictions. Here, logic itself goes to die.

On and on it plunges, crashing and dissolving and reforming in the endless storm. It ruptures a cloud-burst of other screams that hadn't yet been cried aloud. It punctures the fire-flesh of shrieking ghosts, adding to the torment of those already lost souls. It knifes through a disease that was rendered extinct by man-made cures a thousand years before.

And on, and on, and on. Clashing with moments that haven't yet occured, that won't happen for an eternity. Grinding against moments where the first of Remnant's creatures exhaled water, and for the first time, raked in lungfuls of air.

Behind the Veil, there is no _Then_ or _When_. Everything is now. Always and eternally now, in the black shifting tides of infinite malignance.

Light shines in that black: the lights of sentience that draw the darkness closer. The same lights flare and shriek and dissdissolve at the merest touch of the forces around them. Dreams and memories take shape only to shatter amidst the claws and jaws manifesting in the darkness.

The scream plunges on through every whisper of hatred that will ever be spoken by a human mouth or thought by a human mind. It cracks like lightning above the sky of a dying civilization that will expire before ever grasping the winders of science. It breaks the stone city-bones of a culture a thousand years dead.

From its genesis in breath and sound, the scream becomes acidic nothingness, then fury and fire. It becomes a memory that burns the minds of humanity, a whisper that ends, and a prophecy that bleeds.

And it becomes a name. A name condemned by every church, every religion, every human, living or dead. A name that carries meaning only in the strangled, misfiring thoughts of humans in their throws of rage and death, in that precious, terrifying moment where their spirits are caught between one realm and the next.

The name of a creature, a demon born in the cold rage of one traitorous soul in one traitorous second. His name is the deed itself, the first murder, and the death that followed.

In his shrieking journey from unreality to reality, he brushes the mind of every human who harbors the thoughts of his birth. The criminal, seeking money in his infinite greed, plotting his way to the top.

The terrorist, enraged over betrayal.

The hero, broken over his father's murder.

The fake maiden, desiring power and glory above all else.

They all felt the psychic scream of his birth scrape across their minds.

Tied to humanity with such primal intimacy, that every man, woman, and child knows his presence - in their blood and bones - even if they know nothing of his name.

The veil recoils, its ever-shifting tides sickening at the murder-thing within its womb. Retching and thrashing, it cannot hold the abomination anymore.

Reality splits, its very fabric shifting and screaming as it is torn apart and forced to take on one more inhabitant.

The demon is ejected outward from the veil in a fit of disgust and post-partum rage.

And the murder-thing is assaulted with reality. Emotions previously unknown now assault its mortal frame. Lust, jealousy, pride, all claw and worm their maggoty way into his brain, planting seeds deep in his subconscious.

And the murder-thing cries, a deep wailing call of fear and pain, of having what you are be perverted with rotten substances, making you more, and making you less. The abomination cries, it's infantile screams and wails heard by those in the dark, and a bright, shining soul.

Pale hands gather up the newborn thing, and press him to a warm chest as the newcomer cooes to him in an effort to calm him. A white cloak is quickly brought around him, shielding him from the deadly cold. The pale newcomer looks around, seeking any other souls in the surrounding dark.

But only the dark stares back.

The newcomer gathers up the flesh-thing and speeds off into the darkness.

 **A/N:Whoo! This is just an idea thats been floating in my head for awhile.please comment any criticism. All is welcome, just try to be civil**.


	2. Woah What is this

The first Murder, legacy of Cain, born of rage and death, looked upon the face beneath him.

and giggled when his adopted mother blew a raspberry at him.

"Whee!" Summer shouted as she quickly brought the baby up above her head, the infant giggling and laughing at the games his mother played with him. Summer brought the baby to her chest, and tickled its nose "Who's the cutest baby in the world! You are! You are!" More giggles earned more tickles.

Little feet quickly ran into the room, accompanied by a mop of golden hair. Yang quickly ran to Summer's side, eager to stare at the newcomer.

"Bubby!" Proclaimed the young girl, little golden pigtails bouncing in time with her own excited movements.

Summer turned to the girl, rubbing her hand against her hair. "That's right Yang! This here is your new bubby! Isn't he the cutest!"

"Summer...he's not that cute." a new voice said.

Taiyang stood in the doorway, leaning into the door frame. He regarded summer with soft eyes, almost apologetic at what he has to tell her.

In Taiyang's eyes, the baby was not 'Cute'.

Pale skin that looked like it had never seen the light of day accompanied sunken milky-white eyes. Stringy, black hair topped his head.

The child honestly looked like it was dying, Taiyang knew he would have assumed so if not for the healthy laughs the infant gave off.

Taiyang suppressed a shudder as a brief image of a pregnant summer screaming as she found her new baby dead in his crib.

Summer huffed, pouting as she gave a bottle of formula to her child.

"You leave poor Brutus alone! I found him on the ground in the dark, out in the cold! It's a miracle he isn't sick!"

Taiyang sighed. "Well, at least you're not breastfeeding him."

Summer snorted. "With teeth like his? No freaking way, Tai."

The child, Brutus, indeed had another abnormality, his canines had already grown in, too much so for a child his age. Brutus popped the bottle out of his mouth, giggling even as it fell to the floor. Summer scoffed "Don't do that! You should appreciate what you have."

"Wise words from the woman who is already raising a kid and about to have her own."

Summer rounded on him so fast, he feared that she would toss the baby. "What's that supposed to mean?" She said, her voice tinged with accusations.

Taiyang ran a hand through his hair, blowing out a breath of air as he did so. "Summer.." He began.

"Should we keep him?"

Summer recoiled as if struck, her mouth gaping in an effort to form words. "What do you mean should we keep him!? Of course we should!"

"Summer." Taiyang stepped closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and bringing him closer to her. "We already have Yang, and soon we'll have Ruby too. Don't you think three kids will be a little much? We can always take him to an orphanage."

Summer looked down at Brutus, her eyes tearing up as she stroked his face. She sniffed as a tear fell down her cheek. Taiyang was right, three kids would be hard, and with them being hunters, they would hardly be around to help raise them, and Yang wasn't old enough to help them.

She cupped his chin in her delicate fingers, his wide, wonder-filled eyes bouncing between her and Tai as his mouth cracked into a sweet smile.

But could they give him up? He had already been abandoned, so his own parents, damn them, didn't want him.

But why?

Sure, he was sickly looking, did they do it because they thought he was going to die? Yes, his hair looked ragged, and his eyes were cloudy and sunken. But those were all aesthetic, and she could tell that he would become a great person, and do great things. His smile and giggle were so happy, so filled with emotion, that she couldn't believe how a child so marred could be unaware of his own unfortune.

If they gave him up, no one would see him as she did.

"We can't..."

Taiyang sighed, bringing summer in closer. "Summer...I know you want to keep him bu-"

"Tai...He's been through so much, if we give him up now, no one will adopt him, he'll grow up in that orphanage, the other kids will make fun of him, he'll be alone. He'll never be happy, and he'll live a joyless life. I can't force that upon him."

Brutus's hand reached up and slapped against Taiyang's chest, his eyes closing as he let out a tired yawn while he reached for Taiyang.

Tai's heart melted at the sight, his arms reaching down to take him from Summer.

"Okay...We'll keep the little guy."

(@)

Brutus sat on the porch of his home, hands idly exploring the roughness of the stone in his hand. The rock was mundane, it's gray color the antithesis to interesting. The only thing interesting about the rock, was what it was.

"You stare any harder and you'll bore a hole right through it."

His attention broken, Brutus sighed as he regarded Yang, his older sister as she was so fond of reminding him.

"Quite, that explains the hole in the wall of your room as well sister, a fly catch your fancy?"

Yang laughed, her shoulders shaking lightly as she did so, though it did have a nervous tinge to it. "You talk weird you know that? Like you're some old man or something."

"I do not, I am fourteen years old, talking like an old man requires a vast amount of experience I do not have yet."

Yang groaned, crossing her arms as she sat next to him. "You're jokes suck you know that?"

" _I_ think they're hilarious, as does Ruby."

"Ruby finds everything funny."

"Yes she does, but I am first on that list."

He returned his attention to the rock, turning its gray mundane skin over in his hand.

"Yang. Tell me what you see in this rock."

Taking the rock from his hands, she quickly turned it over, before tossing it back to him.

"It's a stupid rock, nothing special that I can see."

Brutus's face maintained his typical stoic form, his mouth drawn taut, and his brow always furrowed.

"Exactly. This stone is unremarkable, no mark, no blemish or anything. Just a normal rock."

Yang eyed her brother suspiciously, Brutus was always going on about things like this, he was weird in his own way. "Yeah, it's just a normal rock, what about it." Her tone was apprehensive, like she knew her brother knew something she didn't.

Brutus turned the rock over in his hand again. His fingers holding it tightened, then relaxed, before repeating the process again.

"Nothing about it at all, my dear Yang, nothing at all."

"pfft. You're weird. We leave for signal in a month, and while you should be making a weapon, you're out here playing with rocks."

"I'm weird? So says the girl who catches fire."

She didn't respond to his retort as she got up and walked away, likely to go find Ruby to play with.

Brutus turned the rock over in his hand again, Yang was right, the rock held no remarkable feature in its appearance.

It was what she couldn't see that had him so interested.

Brutus could see it however, like faint wisps of smoke coming off it's surface, dull glowing lines spiderwebbing across its surfacen the weakest hum that he strained to hear.

 _Something_ was very special about this rock.

Once again, Brutus turned it over in his hand, the lattice work of lines shifting and convalescing in ways that amazed him.

He could _feel_ the rock calling to him, as if its true nature was hidden behind a curtain. A pull coming off of the stone, like a weak current, lured him in like a fish with a worm. The space around the stone blurred before settling back to its transparency.

This was one _strange_ stone.

Focusing on the lines, Brutus looked closer, his eyes narrowing in intense concentration, the lines were shifting again, forming intricate patterns, he could feel whatever energy that was in the stone aligning similarly before the lines dispersed back to their chaotic migrations and whatever energy had shown itself fizzled out.

But Brutus was not so easily satisfied.

He needed to know what secrets this stone held, and why the energy was doing what it was. He gripped the stone tight, his fingers straining and knuckles turning pale with exertion. He could feel deep down in his being that the energy this stone had was not enough.

But not enough for what?

He concentrated on the lines in the stone, trying to will them to align as they once had. He forced down every other thought, squashed any other idea, annihlated any other whim. There was only him and this rock.

The lines shifted.

They moved like snakes, albeit drunk ones, but they moved none the less.

The rock began to vibrate and hum with energy, and pale lines grew brighter. The hum focused, turning into a deep bass that shook the air around it. The space around the stone _shimmered_ , like heat waves off a stove.

Reality's flesh tore, and Brutus fell into the wound.

(@)

The world swam, a feeling of weightlessness surrounded his body as he floated through wherever he was. An expanse laid before him, infinite in distance, and unbound by any worldly means. Veins of color danced around him, winding their way through the air around him, their paths held a serenity about them, as well as a sentience that he did not understand. They wound and crawled, swam and ran about him, their colorful bodies darting this way and that in frivolous exchanges of motion. He did not understand where he was, or where he could be.

He glanced around him, the porch of his home was gone, exchanged for a mind numbing expanse of colors he could not name. It was like being in an ocean with no water and no sky. His own being seemed small, yet overly huge amongst them, like a planet dwarfed by a sun, but dwarfing its moon in turn.

He floated for an unknown time, content to stare and wonder and contemplate the colors that blitzed their way around this place.

He realized the rock was still in his hand.

He stared down at the stone, the lines that had so greedily captured his attention were vibrant where once they were deathly faded. Idly, as if though his actions might be akin to poking an ursa, he glided the stone through a band if vibrant crimson that lazily passed by him. The color disappeared, the stone carving a great gouge through the ghostly vein. Bringing the rock out, he found that the stone did not cut.

It had absorbed the vein itself.

The stone felt heavier, like its very foundation had been changes, like its form was changed somehow. Brutus could feel the stone's power, idling with contempt and potential just beneath the surface, trapped as it was in its own body.

Brutus turned his attention back to the vein of power, and in a move that his logical side called stupid, and his curious side called satisfying, he swept his hand through it.

Instantly, his hand was enveloped in a feeling of power, constant in its flow. He felt as if he could climb a mountain, jump off, and survive the fall down.

He felt powerful, and his body was filled with a energy he had never felt.

Soon, the vein was gone, and he felt like he was born anew, he felt...

Like he had just _eaten._

Whatever this energy was, it made him feel wonderful.

But how to get back?

The stone was still in his hand, but the lines that once danced across its surface in lazy patterns, now raged in violent storms. The stone held power, but it was new power, something he did not feel could accomplish his goal. The energy within the stone was great, but it seemed ill suited to his purpose.

This world, this _Aether_ , was accessed using a scalpel, whereas the energy in this stone was more akin to a hammer. He would not get out the same way he got in.

However, in this ocean without water, he could swim, and if he could swim...

He could _dive._

Where he would exit from however, was a different matter altogether. He had moved through the Aether, and movement was movement, so it made sense that the more he moved here, the more he would move in the real world.

 _'So I'm stuck?'_

The thought came unbidden, and the flash of annoyance that followed it made him ball his hands into fists at the notion.

 _He_ was Brutus Rose, and _He_ did not get stuck.

Anger welled up within him, and he clenched his hands tighter, his anger desperate to lash out. The energy in his body bashing against his skull, bouncing around in his cranium like a caged beast.

 _'Calm down, you won't find a way out like this.'_

That was true, and he released his anger through clenched teeth. Anger and rage would serve no purpose here.

He tried to remember how he got here.

The lines, the stone, and the...

and the _what?_

There was no other factor, no other object he had used.

The only third ingredient in this Petri dish of frustration was him. He had concentrated on the lines of the stone, he had _willed_ them to move.

Then it clicked, he had willed himself here, so maybe he could will himself out?

He moved through the aether, gliding like a revenant as he willed himself further along, it all came so easy, so natural, like he was made here.

He knew he had the power to leave this place, he had the power to enter, so he had the power to leave.

He spared a glance to the stone.

It had been thoroughly crushed in his fist, what was supposed to be unyielding stone had molded like clay in his hand, parts of it squishing between his fingers.

He brought his other hand to the stone, and crushed it between his palms. The stone squished and stretched in ways that should not have been possible, that would have been insane to even attempt to comprehend. Idly, his hands moved about the stone, crushing and shaping, breaking and molding it to his will. Before long, he held a long knife, its blade reminiscent of the serrated service knives he had seen soldiers in movies use. Gone was the grainy grey of a stone, and in its place was a smooth finish of gunmetal. The edge had been pressed and sharpened, the simple movements of his finger had shaved off entire chunks, leaving behind a razor's edge.

He was amazed, even his father could not break stone in such a way. Yet here he was, the simplest push of his finger parting stone like water.

It was as if physical substance was weak here.

Tucking the long knife away in his belt, Brutus turned his attention to the space before him.

He concentrated hard, staring into the empty space just ahead of him, he poured more of his will into the fabric of the aether, and like fabric, the veil that separated the aether stretched thin, and he could see through it like a silk sheet pulled taught.

People buzzed to and fro, plastic bags on their arms filled with food and groceries between concrete buildings.

 _'Wrong place.'_

He willed his vision to move, seeking a sign of where he was. He weaved between crowds of people, threaded between a couple engaged in conversation and past a large clock tower.

Eventually he found a sign, far on the outskirts of the town.

 _'Anvil? That's just outside patch, right? To the south right?'_

So Brutus turned his shade north.

He went on, zipping far above the trees and lakes, until finally he was at his destination.

Flying high above his home, he could see Ruby playing in the front yard, a scarlet piece of cloth tied around her head as she twirled a long stick in intricate patterns. Yang hovered just outside the door, shifting nervously to and fro, as if afraid to take her eyes off her younger sister.

Brutus glided down, setting his shade just behind the house.

And _willed_ his way through to the material universe.

Reality stretched, and like a zipper being undone, it split apart, and Brutus stepped through. Reality snapped shut behind him, not happy about being violated as it licked its wounds.

Brutus quickly made his way around the house, and to the porch that Yang stood on.

"Good evening, Yang."

The girl's head snapped around, her hair flying in a frenzy.

She ran and tackled Brutus, knocking them both to the ground. Her eyes had tears in them as she wrapped her arms around him. Sobbing as she held him tight.

"Where _were you?!?_ I haven't seen you since two days ago!"

Brutus blinked at that.

 _'Two days?How long was I in the aether for?'_

"Yang...I was still here. Just not...here."

"What does that even mean?!" She growled, beating her fist against his chest.

To be honest, Brutus didn't know either. Standing up, he held yang close to him, calmly stroking her back as she sobbed.

"Look, Yang, I know you want to know where I was, but I was safe,and besides.."

Yang looked up to his milky eyes, wiping the tears from her face, staring into the grin on her brother's face she had rarely seen since their mom had died.

"I know what to make for a weapon."


	3. Big and mean

Stone parted like water, deep furrows gouged out by calloused fingers. Brass, compressed and hardened under the reality breaking touch of its own personal god reveled in its newfound purpose. Iron ingots as long as Brutus was tall were pressed into bars and attached to industrial grade servos. Metal flowed like rain and stone parted like air.

Brutus was busy.

Here in the aether, physics and logic did not exist, and Brutus's will was god. Swirling patterns of power were consumed in his desires, and material bent to his hand. He had made good progress on his weapon, stopping only to check reality for time and to assure Yang, who was unaware of his new workshop, that he was still alive.

His hand flicked out to gather a new stone, but in his haste, it had slipped from his grip and a great mark was carved on its surface.

Gathering the stone once more, Brutus cursed his inattention, but turning the stone over, he was gasping in amazement.

Along the mark where his fifingers had gouged out the rock, the stone pulsed with power, like a generator overflowing with energy. The mark seemed to act as a well for the strange power around him, drawing it in and trapping it. Gingerly, Brutus pressed the stone in his fist, flattening it into a bar, before flattening it again into a plate. The symbol was still there, and still the stone pulsed with power.

Letting the stone plate go, and snorting at how it spun and floated in place, he turned to another stone piece. If he could add a symbol and have said symbol act as a capacitor, what else could he do? Placing a finger against the rock, he carved out his name, eager to see what effect it would have.

Nothing.

No glow, no hum, nothing. The plate was as inert as when he dug it up. Nothing had changed.

Why though?

If he could accidentally engrave a symbol of power into a rock, how could he purposely attempt the sane and achieve nothing? Physically and logically it made no sense.

Maybe that was the problem?

Here in the aether, logic and physics didn't exist, and from what Brutus could tell, everything heeded a metaphysical law, emotion and the like.

Was that what the veins of power were? Emotion? The thought intrigued Brutus, here he was, imbuing rocks with magical wisps of emotion. Briefly, his mind wondered over to the crimson ribbons of energy he had devoured recently. What emotion were they? They made him feel powerful and the stones he imbued gave off a sense of heightened energy, so what emotion gave that off?

Brutus didn't know. This place was weird.

But the fact remained, he had carved a rune of power, if only accidentally, did it matter that it was accidental? All he did was flail and-

Curse.

He had _cursed_ , and said the word _damn._ To _damn_ something was to condemn it, and to _impart_ the _will_ to _destroy it._ A _metaphysical _meaning.

This place was _weird_.

Crushing the plat into its original form, and smashing out his name, he carved the curse word into the stone.

This time, the stone _shook_ with power, and he couldn't help but exclaim with joy. The runes ran off the metaphysical association of words! This all made sense!

Marking out the curse, he wrote a phrase that an old man had said in passing.

'Let my strength be tenfold for the path ahead.'

Now the rock was mundane looking, no glow, no hum, nothing. Placing his hand to mark the stone clear again, he began to erase.

Instead of a water-like resistance, he found that trying to shape the rock was more like trying to mold ice. He grunted, pushing with his strength against the surface of the object, the material yielded, but it was slow-going and tedious. Needless to say, the rock was much harder to mold. The stone had become emboldened by his words, and refused to yield as easily.

That gave him an idea.

Setting the plate down, he picked up his servos, and carved the same phrase into their surface. This phrase relayed strength to the stone, maybe it could relay strength to these as well?

Once he was done, he could feel the servos thrum with energy, seemingly able to do much more work than normal. This was amazing!

He quickly attached the servos to the frame before him, important joints becoming ten times as strong as before. Soon, his work was complete, the frame was finished and all he had left to do was add the plates.

Taking the brass he had molded earlier, he carved motivational texts and runes of power in scrawling lines on its surface. Soon, he would be finished, and he would be ready.

He couldn't help but crack a smile as the supercharged stone hummed with energy in turn.

(@)

Yang was not an easy person to scare, and anyone who did try would get a face-full of Ember-Celica for their troubles. Running the clcloth over her precious weapon, Yang couldn't help but revel in its glory. They were Shotgun-Gauntlets! Nothing could beat that! Her thoughts turned to her younger brother and what he might make. She snickered as she remembered the knife on his dresser. She could just imagine him using a knife while fighting grimm before looking at her and saying ' _Why didn't I make a weapon like Yang?! She's the coolest and I suck!'_

That would be hilarious.

 _Vhrrrr-Thump._

Yang jumped at the sound, her hands quickly burrowing their way into her gauntlets. What the hell was that?! It sounded like someone just dropped an anvil on the ground!

 _Vhrrr- Thump_

The sound rang again, and Yang quickly shuffled to the wall.

The sound rang again, becoming louder as it traveled up the stairs, and to her horror, stopped outside her room.

Her door flew open, like someone had hit it with a freight train.

A giant stood in her doorway, huge armor adorned every inch of its skin, huge slabs of gunmetal grey armor inlaid with brass and words stood before her. It's head was a brass great helm, the _'T'_ visor darkened and foreboding. The armor gave off a palpable feeling of **_Rage_** , like it was some revenant come back from hell to seek revenge on her immortal soul.

The space around it seemed _wounded_ and _blurred_ , like it was scared and hurting from being near the vile thing. One huge gauntleted hand, scrawled with text that made her eyes hurt to look at, came to rest on the great helm, and with a hiss of pressurized air, pulled off the helm.

"Sister, I have finished my weapon."


	4. One hot crossed Bun

The floor beneath Brutus shook with every great thundering step, the mass of his powered armor was enough to rattle the teeth of anyone he passed by. Servos imbued with aetheric might hummed and purred with every motion of his body, lines of burning text flashed across his warplate in chaotic flocks of unreal knowledge. Leather straps bound his weapons and pack to him, a great two handed sword with a blade was as thick as his bicep clattered loosely against his thigh-plate. Thick runes glowed dangerously along its blade, the tool of destruction being made all the more deadly by the aetheric runes.

The weapon Brutus had crafted was mighty indeed, and its imposing presence scorned the very fabric of the reality around it with vicious incorporeal energies that lashed out in violent ecstasy.

He was quite proud of it.

Nestled as he was within the armor, he felt powerful, as aetheric power looped and spun through power conduits and wires molded by his very hands, he felt invulnerable. He was the very avatar of intimidation and everyone shied from his path.

Well, almost everyone.

"Ooh, I'm so excited! We're gonna get to the academy, We're gonna do the thing! Ooh, I want to do the thing!"

Trailing behind him was a rather tall bunny girl, her large floppy ears bounced in time to her own small jumps. Her short cropped white hair flew in every direction with each excited direction yet always landed perfectly back to its original form. She was constant in her yelling and excited noise-making, constantly going on about how excited she was and how excited she was going to be.

She seemed easily excited to be honest.

"We're gonna have so much fun! I'm Bun-Bun by the way, who are you?" She prattled on, her hands leaving from the space above her head where they had been glued for the past two hours. Brutus didn't notice her question, having decided to ignore her and revel in the feel of his armor.

"Hey! Answer me! I'm Bun-Bun, now who are you!?"

She placed her hands on her rather wide hips and stared at his back. Her excitable nature being switched out for a lake of annoyance and anger almost immediately.

 _That_ got Brutus's attention, and he immediately whirled around, knocking over some other people in the process. Ignoring those on the floor, he regarded this girl in earnest. She was a remarkable specimen in physiology, yes, but this was what had not captured his focus.

Her anger was _palpable_ , and it darkened her image in his mind like a shroud, there was such a...a _storm_ of emotion hidden behind those reddish-pink eyes.

The tidal wave of annoyance intensified at his awed silence, and Brutus _shivered_ at the rumbling viscosity of it. This girl had definitely earned his interest.

"Forgive me." He began. "I was lost in thought, and I did not hear you, I am Brutus Rose."

Instantly, the emotional hurricane switched back to its bubbly self, and Brutus was once again left speechless at the emotional flexibility this girl had.

Her toothy scowl was replaced with a toothy smile as she hopped up next to him. she was tall, very tall, outside of his armor she would stand a whole head taller than him, and while she was not fat, nor obese, she was plump enough to jiggle when she moved.

Bouncing up next to him, she stared wide eyed at his vambrace, marvelling at the lines of text he had so painstakingly carved into it.

"That's pretty! How did you do that! It's so cool!"

Bringing his fist in front of her face, he slowly uncurled his fingers, each digit humming with power as his armor moved in perfect sync with his body.

He extended his index finger, and waggled it in front of her face.

"I guess you could say I have magic gingers."

She 'oohed' and 'awed' as she contemplated his hand. The vague answer not bringing forth any qualms from her mind. She flicked her eyes back up to his helmeted face, narrowing them in scrutiny.

"Are you a robot?"

"No."

"Prove it."

A hand reached up, and the helmet released a hiss of pressurized air as the seal broke.

(@)

Bun-Bun Violetta stood in muted shock at what she was seeing. When the big robo-dude took off his helmet, she was expecting wires, metal plates and a synthesized voice going ' _beep boop, fuck the humans.'_

She was in for a _Big_ shock.

Lightly tanned skin formed the bedrock for an angular face, whose features seemed to be chiseled from stone and molded by the hands of Oum himself. A white scalp with tiny little hairs beginning to grow back topped his head. Milky white eyes that seemed to stare at her, through her and into the next world swirled with emotions and thoughts, and sparkled with soulful hope and ideas. When he spoke, his voice did not sound like the heavily synthesized jargon his helmet spewed, but a voice that sounded so enticing and sweet that it could charm a fish right out of water.

She _really_ needed to change her underwear after this.

He was just so damn _sexy_ , so _tempting._

Then, he smiled.

Large canines and perfect teeth lined the inside of his mouth, she shivered as she thought of those teeth _grinding_ and _biting_ against her flesh, pricking her with a needful and predatory force, marking her as his.

She really needed to change her underwear after this.

She could just imagine his hot breath washing over her neck, teeth sinking into her skin, how he would groan as he felt her flesh part for his huge, massive di-

"Hello, Bun-Bun? Are you ok?

She was so cruelly pulled out of her fantasies by his voice that she actually jumped. He had one hand in front of her, fingers snapping in front of her eyes in an effort to break her out of her trance.

"A conversation requires two party's, my friend."

"Oh. I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to ignore you!"

Satisfied with her response, he returned his helmet to his head.

"Good, I was beginning to fear that you had ostracized me from any relations with you."

"~Oh I would never do _that~"_

 **A/N** **So, this story has become my most successful story so far, and I should be churning out more chapters soon, longer ones too. So please review! Any criticism is welcome!**


	5. Big man seeking smart woman

Blade clashed against armored fist, deft fingers shoving the weapon aside before attempting to close the distance where its grasping strength could do the most damage. A powerful punch landed, forcing the attacker back with a grunt and a sizeable drop in aura. Pressing the attack once more, the blade-wielder rushed in, swinging her sword in quick arcs in an effort to daze her opponent. Quickly tiring herself out, she grabbed her sword in a two handed overhead swing, the exertion of holding the sword two much for one hand.

A vital mistake.

A rune-carved great-sword quickly clashed against the curved scimitar of its opponent, and a fist seized her wrists. She was violently thrown over her opponents shoulder, and slammed into the ground with bone-shattering force. Her aura dipped into the red, and the buzzer was sounded, signaling the end of the match.

"Victory goes to Brutus Rose by way of aura depletion." The emotionless call of the teacher seemed to hold no surprise, the bored expression on his face affirmed as much.

"Brutus, make more use of your sword, you can't hope to punch every grimm to death."

Brutus huffed as he made his way to the lockers to store his sword and armor, well at least his sword, his armor just hung on some chains near the back.

People stared as he stomped past, whispers arcing amongst them. They talked of how it was unfair that no one could touch him in his armor, that he shouldn't be allowed to wear it because no one could beat him while he was in it.

Fools. Battle was not fair, and woe to the general who does not use his every advantage to win the battle. He designed this weapon with his very hands, crafted it through his very will! They should have taken into account that mobility means nothing when you are knee deep in the dead.

 _'You can't punch every grimm to death.'_ He was not fighting grimm, now was he? He was fighting another human, who could think and feel and strategize. A single wrong move with his sword, a swing too far, a step too close, and she would have stabbed him in a weak spot, or snuck her sword under his helmet, stabbed his joints.

He had to spare the sword use until he could be sure that using it would result in victory. Parrying with his fists and arms was the best style of fighting with his armor on. He was not as mobile as the others, but he had stamina, power and size on most, he _had_ to press that advantage. Had he been fighting grimm, who were the same size and he was allowed to kill, he would have swept his sword in great arcs and pummeled any that stepped in too close.

A powerful sentiment, but ultimately worthless. He was not fighting grimm, so his argument was moot.

Finding his locker, he dialed in his code, and stashed his sword inside. He had to admit, his weapon sure looked lonely in there.l with no companion.

Shaking his head, he closed the door, and stomped over to the chains hanging a few feet away.

Taking off his armor was always a chore, so many buckles and screws and pressure locks took precious time and attention to undo individually. Removing his helmet with a hiss of air, he set the brass wargear on a nearby table.

He was just about to move to undo his pauldrons when he felt a pair of soft hands snake around his neck accompanied by a soft giggle. He sighed as he instantly knew who it was, though the fact that she had snuck up on him was not lost to him

"Hello, Bun-Bun."

The giggling stopped, and a sad 'aw.' filed into its place. "How did you know it was me?"

Brutus clasped her hand in his, an guided her hand away from his gorget. She sighed dejectedly from behind him, and took a step back from him.

"You're the only person who even dares to touch me, besides my sister of course. No one else can find the courage to even speak to me."

"Well that's cause you're scary and all that, I mean come on, you beat the crap out of that girl earlier."

Brutus said nothing for awhile, continuing to remove his warplate in silent contemplation. When he did speak, his voice was tinged with annoyance.

"You mean that girl who has never won a match in the month we've been here? I doubt I could have lost to her even if I cut off my hands."

"Okay, what's going on? You're never this annoyed after a fight."

Brutus sighed, he had played right into her trap.

"For the past month, every fight has been with someone of sub-par quality. No one has come close to harming me and it's getting on my nerves."

"So you're mad because no-one is good enough?"

"I'm mad because I am not being pitted against people that I could learn from. I'm being used to inspire the weak to quit, and it's costing me my own strength."

Bun-Bun hummed, her eyes focusing in thought.

She stood there, hands on her hips, doubtless thinking of a way to placate him.

"Well." she began after some time, speaking as Brutus struggled with his cod-piece. "You'll just have to teach the weaklings how to be strong."

Brutus chuckled at that, and turned to regard his friend. "Teach the weak? You saw that girl today, she didn't think with anything but her sword."

"I know, usually it's only guys that do that."

He rolled his eyes at that, sometimes she said the oddest things, but it was not a fault of hers, sometimes it helped remedy his situatuation.

Wait a minute...

 _'Only guys do that.'_ The words repeated in his head again and again, forcing his mind to study them from different angles more and more.

 _'Only guys do that.'_ The idea hit him with such force that he almost stumbled back. He stared at her in shocked awe before he burst out laughing.

"That's it! That's it! Bun-Bun, you're a genius!"

He laughed and laughed, even as she yelled and begged for any explanation as to what he meant. She was practically shaking him back and forth as she screamed at him.

He just laughed and laughed, as if he had been told a horribly funny joke.

With a grin, he finished storing his armor, and headed out the door with a smirk on his face.

After all, he had a plan to execute.

(@)

The next day had rolled around and combat class had rolled in with it. There were a few fights, but none were much more than angry teenagers hitting eachother with metal. The time came and Brutus was called to fight the same girl again, but this time, Brutus had a plan in place.

Standing across from the girl, Verde Blu he believed her name was, he regarded her with a keener eye. A moderate bust, long seafoam-green hair and a pair of slacks left her unremarkable, but not displeasing to his eye. The curved scimitar she held was long and thin, and she held it with a grace a rodent might of been proud of, but he didn't doubt that in the right hands it would be a formidable weapon.

He stood, once again, in his full ensemble, sword in one hand and the other by his side. He could see her eyes look him up and down, not with pre-battle nerves, or a tactical eye, but with something else.

He smirked beneath his helmet, this fight was already in his favor, and in his mind he had already won.

The buzzer sounded, signaling the fight. Instantly, she sped towards him, sword raised to strike. He lazily drifted his arm up to deflect the blow, the weapon skidding off his gauntlet. A blow meant to carve into his side bounced off of an drifting pauldron. A stab to his face, the only move that seemed to have some semblance of thought behind it, was seized in his armored grip and thrown away.

She assaulted him in a flurry of blows, screaming her rage as he haphazardly deflected them with an interest one might have given a bump on a log.

She continued her attack, her sword clattering uselessly against his armor. Her screams of rage died down to sobs of anguish and despair. Her attacks slowed and became sluggish, and her choked sons came out in sputtering coughs.

Suddenly, his armored fist clasped around her wrist, stopping it in place. She pulled against him, desperate to escape his grasp. His sword fell to the ground, and his other hand clamped around her other wrist. She was struggling uselessly against his iron hands. She was slowly lifted from the ground, held up by her outstretched arms. She flailed her legs in the air, her shoes slumping against him in pitiful attempts to escape.

"L-Let go!" She screamed, her face red in exertion.

He brought her face close to his helmet, close enough that no one would be able to hear what he had to say.

"I will not let you go, you have impeded me enough." He began, her struggles intensifying as he spoke. "You wanted to impress me, didn't you?"

Her struggles loosened, and she fell still. Her voice was barely above a whisper, and tinged with embarrassment. "Yes.."

"So why do you flail so uselessly in battle?"

Her cheeks lit up, and she muttered something he couldn't hear.

"Speak up." He said.

"Because you're so strong, I thought that if I could show you how strong I was, you'd like me."

Just like that, the pieces fell into place. Her schoolyard crush was impeding him and leading her to embarrass herself and frankly, him, in front of the whole class. He would have to...correct her.

"You are nothing to me, you seek to impress me by flailing around like a bird with a clipped wing? Pitiful, disgusting, mediocre."

With every word she seemed to shrink in his hands, her sky-blue eyes tearing up with un-shed tears.

"Any woman I favor will be strong, but she will have the wits to use it, so if you ever wish to be with me."

By now she had practically receded into herself, her face a mess of tears and matted hair.

" ** _So wise up."_**

(@)

Yang watched the fight with muted interest, she knew her brother would win, anyone dressed like he was definitely had an edge over their opponent, but when he held up that girl by her arms, she feared, only for a second, that he would rip her arms off. The thought came unbidden, and she instantly banished it.

Though the thought held some credence. In recent time, her brother had become more...annoyed and irritable when he was alone. There were times when he would just disappear for hours on end, and no-one could find him.

He _had_ been spending nearly every minute with that bunny girl though, and she seemed content to talk his damn ear off.

Maybe he was annoyed because of her?

Her brother was a polite person, but a patient one he was not. He would rather do things the hard way than the long way, and it showed in his attitude more than anything.

Glancing back to the fight, she saw that her brother had let go of the girl, who had sunk to her knees, crying.

Only to go flying against the wall with a great kick. The buzzer sounded, and the fight ended.

Yes, her brother could be quite blunt.

(@)

Bun-Bun greeted Brutus in her usual way, with a large hug that she loved to give him, and with her greeting finished, she accompanied him to the weapons lockers, talking all the way.

Verde Blu watched him leave, his armor whirring with every step, and she watched that bunny girl hug him, and walk alongside him, prattling on about some nonsense she couldn't even fathom the reason to. His words rang about her.

 **" _Wise up"_**

He had delivered them with such a finality that she couldn't get rid of. When he spoke to her, it was like she was talking to a higher being, someone above the mortal morass that they all wallowed in. She knew that he was not a god, of course, but she knew that he was already a fine man, she knew that from the moment she laid eyes on him.

 _'When you get there, find yourself a man who looks strong, strong men always make the best men.'_

Her mother had said that, as she often did. A strong man was here, and he was already a fine specimen at such a young age.

 _"Men respect strength, so go all out and win his adoration!'_

More advice her mother had said, and partly she was right, he did respect strength, but he wouldn't settle for strength alone, he had said so himself. She would have to become smart if she hoped to win him.

She had to not only get stronger, but smart too. She wouldn't let this chance escape, as her mother did with her father. She had to win him.

If only she could get rid of that bunny-whore.

 **A/N**

 **And another chapter is up! Whoo! I want to thank all you guys for your support, and everything.**

 **I do have a question, how do I add stories to a community? Keep in mind I type on a mobile, so that may have something to do with it.**

 **Until next time.**


	6. Crying souls

Brutus sat on his throne of stone, floating through the Aether, he had constructed this seat for one reason.

It was easier to think.

All around him, the tides of the unreal swirled in maddening patterns, forming whirlpools of thought and experience. The Aether inside the academy seemed rather active compared to the quiet woods he so often chose to peruse. Maybe it had something to do with the population? That made sense, the more people, the more emotion.

But that was not the cause for his brooding.

He was quite puzzled, to be honest. If he could manipulate the Aether while within its confines, then could he manipulate it while outside? In what ways could he manipulate it? The Aether was the supreme source of energy, where thought became action and ideas gained mass, but could he do anything else but travel and forge?

He had pondered for hours upon his throne, and had paced its attached steps many times.

Still he did not know the answer.

Electing to ponder some more but at a later date, he resigned himself to watching the 'Mortal Realm.' The thought that he was some god made him snicker, to be all powerful, unchallenged and worshipped?

Not for him, really. He loved a challenge too much.

Thinning the veil between this world and the other, he peered through, and maneuvered his way through twisting corridors, and between hallways.

Red carpet lined white walls, doors every few feet or so lined the hallway.

Where was he? This was not signal. He must have drifted further than he thought.

In this place, the quiet storm of emotion became a maelstrom of energy, where cascades of power swept through convoys of worry, desire and anger. Huge columns of liquid determination collapsed under a veritable ceiling of courage, massive spires of desire and glory sprang from nothingness into their own mockery of existence, bulwark's of desire and respect held firm against lightning fast tendrils of lust and perversion.

But none of this interested him, for there was something far more...intriguing than those paltry trinkets.

A veritable river of inky blackness ebbed slowly from nothingness, its silhouette chilling the space around it, and it spasmed sperratically, almost like it was sick and dying.

Brutus moved closer, his throne lying forgotten behind him, the tantalizing aroma of unseen knowledge proving too much for him to not wet his palette. Closer he moved, and cautiously, as if he was handling a great jewel as brittle as glass, he swept his naked hand through it.

Instantly, the world around him chilled, and his breath frosted before him. Feelings of dread and despair caressed his mind, like pale, shriveled fingers as cold as the grave wanting entrance to a warm home.

He allowed them in.

 _He was on his knees, his body sore and broken, sandal-clad feet stopped in front of him, and he looked up to meet their owners gaze. Amber eyes stared back, glowing with triumph and mocking. A single gloved hand was raised, and he saw no more._

Brutus slammed his mind shut, butchering the foreign inhabitants already inside and shoving their desecrated remains outside.

 _'What was that.'_

It had felt like he was there, like it was him on the ground. He snatched his hand away from the black river, holding it in his other as if it was injured. What had he done? What was that!?

He was sickened, but curious as to the implications.

He had gleaned much from his little debacle, and information bounced around inhis mind.

Much of it was junk, paltry sentiments, unfulfilled wishes, but he had a gem in the rough.

A name, and a power.

 _Amber_.

Who was Amber? Why had her last waking thoughts been of power? What power was it?

He had to find out.

He followed the river to its source, where nothing became flowing misery and despair. Here, the Aether was calm, the only source of energy being the river itself.

He pushed forward, from unreal world to material universe.

Large marble columns lined a great hall dimly lit with sputtering lights. The ceiling was covered in blackness and the room seemed empty save for its sole occupant.

Trapped in a glass tube, bandaged and seemingly unresponsive, was the object of his attention.

Amber.

She was a short woman, and small in size. Short cropped hair the color of chocolate rested on a bandaged face. Most of her was bandaged actually, as the experience they now shared had left her mangled.

She was unconscious, and mercifully so, he was sure that if she was awake, she would be in agony.

"Who are you, Amber? Why does your mind tantalize me so?"

He spoke in a hushed whisper, nearly reverent at the unknown power this woman held partially in her soul's death grip. He rested his hand against the glass, his body wailing at the barrier between him and the morsel beyond it.

But the morsel was not his alone.

Someone had targeted her specifically, and he had a face to match the deed to. Jet black hair, amber eyes, and silken pale skin. Whoever that was, was after the same prize he now drooled over. He spent quite awhile there, caught between the decision of leaving and dragging this girl screaming from the depths of unconsciousness to answer his questions.

He was so engrossed in the woman before him, that he did not notice the footsteps behind him.

"Back away from her, now."

The voice was feminine, edged with hostility and caution.

He did not whirl around, to his credit, but he did jump a little. He quickly realized he had just been caught trespassing and salivating over a comatose girl.

Even he thought that was creepy.

Electing to not turn and show his face, he stepped away from Amber, his gaze not leaving the injured woman.

 _"Who is she?"_ He said, being sure to disguise his voice as a hissing whisper.

"That is none of your concern, who are you and how did you know she was here?"

The statement was punctuated with a meaty thwack of a leather whip, or riding crop.

 _"I saw the river of her misery through the veil, and it led me here."_ "Her misery?"

 _"Yes, she despairs and her soul cries."_ He thought he could hear the shuffling of more feet coming into the great hall, but he did not dare look back and show his face.

"Her soul, it...Cries?"

 _"It knows she is dead."_ Silence followed, the answer obviously not what she wanted. In truth, Brutus didn't know if her soul was really crying, but the river that led him here was a large hint.

"How do you know this?"

A new voice this time, masculine and firm in its delivery, and tinged with age and curiosity.

 _"I saw what happened to her, **felt** what she went through."_"So you know who did this."

He shook his head.

 _"She did not know, so I do not know."_ He doubted that was the answer they wanted to hear, but it was the only one he could give, he was not omnipotent.

"Who are you?"

Ah, a question he had the answer to, but refused to give. He did admit though, this was a good chance to further separate the idea that his real identity and this one were the same.

 _"I have no name I wish to give you."_ "I could just arrest you and interrogatinterrogate you until I find out."

Oh, so it was like that then, power plays? He could play along to that.

" _You don't know how I got in, you don't know how I can get out."_ This rather one sided exchange was beginning to drag on a tad too long for his liking, it was time to leave.

 _"This exchange was satisfactory, farewell."_

(@)

Glynda Goodwitch watched as the figure obscured by the darkness ahead of her turned abruptly, disappearing by the last column on that side of the room. She quickly sprinted after it, closing the distance in mere seconds. She was almost there when the figure turned the corner of the pillar, and was obscured from sight.

She had rounded that same corner a moment later, but all she found was a wall.

It had disappeared into thin air.

"Ozpin." She breathed, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. "What _was_ that?"

"To be honest, Glynda."

He paused to take a sip from his mug.

"I don't know."

 **A/N**

 **Whoo! I'm back! Brutus has discovered not only the maiden, but a new power as well. This could be disastrous for him.**

 **Next chapter, Yandere show down!**


	7. Decisions, Decisions

Strong fingers glided through liquid metal, carving out delicate symbols and runes upon an iron surface. Glowing patterns swirling with pure meaning and maddening power were brought into existence at a whim.

All knowledge that Brutus had gleaned from the aether was painstakingly scrawled across the iron rod, every rune, every success he had had so far was to be written on this iron pole, so that his knowledge might be immortalized and not lost to time, so that later generations might learn from him, and expand upon his knowledge. The iron rod was radiant with runes, and words of power. His experiments and ideas, as well as the translation for the coded words were written in a heavy book, bound in steel.

He may have wanted future generations to learn, but only those who were worthy would learn it.

Finishing his work, he dragged himself and the newly dubbed 'Rod of Iron' out of the aether and into the room he was issued at Signal. Placing the rod in the nearest corner, he let out a heavy sigh, stripping his clothes off after he collapsed on his bed, his body sweating from the effort of opening up a hole in reality after such a long day of mental gymnastics.

The last month had been stressful.

He was now three months into his stay at Signal Academy, and while combat and his other classes had been a quiet breeze, his rapidly growing obsession with the aether had yielded zero results. For the past month, he had made no new discoveries, made no more progress, and crossed no new thresholds when it came to that accursed world of un-reality. It was only when he had decided to start a new project that he had realized just how little he knew.

Questions still burned in his mind, flying scorching trails and dropping napalm upon his psyche. Could he use the aether as more than a means of transportation and production? Could it influence the material universe as it was influenced in kind?

He didn't know.

That wasn't even counting the mysterious woman he had found during that trip a month ago. Her very existence proved to challenge him, and he doubted that he would be able to find anything on her due to how secret she apparently was.

Whoever that woman was, she had a connection to the aether like he had never seen before, and here he was, uunable to make any sort of progress or even acquire the one person who might be able to help him.

It was very frustrating to say the least.

Letting out a huff of air, he rolled over in his bed and dragged the blankets over him. He was mentally exhausted, and his bones ached with every mind-shredding pulse of his migraine. He bunched up his pillow and drifted off to sleep, content to be lazy this weekend.

(@)

Verde Blu skipped happily down the halls of Signal academy, a basket of baked goods on one arm. She intended to spend this weekend with her crush, laughing and joking while they munched on sweets.

'The fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach.' Her mother had said once. 'Or riding his di-nevermind.'

While she had never discovered the other way, she had decided to take her mother's advice to heart. She had just about made it to her future-husbands door when a strong hand ripped the basket from her arm.

"Just what do you think you're doing?"

Bun-Bun stood behind her, hands clenched around the handle of Verde's basket, holding it out of the shorter girls reach, eyes ablaze with fury.

Verde huffed, crossing her arms and looking away from the enraged bunny-girl. "None of your damn business."

Some other students heard the conversation, and the excitement of the weekend was replaced with the possibility of a fight.

"None of my business?! You're delivering cookies to my boyfriend's door!"

By now, more people around the hall were beginning to notice the petty squabble, and whispers sprang out among them.

"Your boyfriend? Oh please, you follow him like a sick puppy, constantly talking with him constantly ignoring you!"

Bun-Bun gasped, her hand rising to her chest in shock. "He does NOT ignore me!" She hissed, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Yes he does!" Verde cried out. "How many times has he held a conversation with you?"

"Plenty!"

"Yeah right, you just want to jump his bones at the first oppurtunity you get, you rabbit-faunus whore!"

The fist impacted against Verde's cheek, the girls aura flaring out at the force behind the blow. She spun on the spot, her vision darkening as spots danced before her eyes, she was not expecting the punch, and she was sorely unprepared for it.

"I'm a fucking bunny!" Came her attacker's vicious reply. "And at least he doesn't think I'm weak and pitiful!"

Verde landed on her knees, blood pouring from a bloody nose and busted lip. Wiping her mouth, she staggered to her feet, turning with a murderous glare in her eyes.

"He does not think that I'm weak!" She spat out, tears stinging her eyes.

"He does too, before you fought him a couple month's ago, he told me that you were an annoyance! That you were pitiful and you were only holding him back!"

"Th-that's not true!" Verde screamed, tears flowing down her cheeks. "He didn't tell you that!"

"He did! You're nothing more than a bump in the road, maybe you'd be more if you had more bump in your body!"

This time it was Verde who reeled back in shock, the hateful words striking a rather sensitive subject with the force of a Cannon.

She flew into a flurry, tackling her opponent to the floor with reckless abandon.

The two landed in a heap on the floor, rolling and hissing as they traded blows. Punch was traded for punch, clawing fingernails found purchase in skin. Fingers gripped handfuls of hair as the two rolled and cursed.

Suddenly, the door to their mutual interest's room exploded off it's hinges, blasting its way into the crowd, who screamed and parted before the missile could enter their ranks.

Brutus stood in the doorway, clad in only a sheet that was strung across his waist and shoulder. His sweat clad chest heaved with great breaths of air, his teeth were grit in anger as his bloodshot eyes bore holes into the now stunned girls.

" **YOU TWO**!" He shouted, his voice a practical meteor with how much force there was behind it. His fist grasped them both by the shoulder, lifting them off the floor as they shrunk in his grip. He held them up to his face, his eyes blazing with rage. **"LET'S GO."**

He turned and threw them into his room, before stomping back over to the fallen door, picking it up, he marched back into his abode.

Turning the door in his hand, he slammed it into the door frame, before slamming an iron bar across it so it stayed shut.

(@)

Brutus spun around, his improvised toga threatening to fly off with the intensity of his movement. His eyes blazed with anger and exhaustion. Verde and Bun-Bun had scrambled into the furthest section of the room away from him, huddling together as they stared into oblivion.

"What." He hissed, his finger pointing to the door. "Was that?"

The girls did not answer, continuing to sit and shake. They had never seen him this mad and as he sat down on the edge of his bed and let out a tired sigh, they realized they had never seen him this tired.

His eyes were bloodshot, and dark bags under his eyes threatened to drag them close. His hair, grown beyond its usual length, was messy and dirty, his fingers twitched with cramps and spasms. He ran a shaky hand through his hair, letting his shoulders slump as if burdened by great weight.

This was a farcry from the powerful man who exuded his presence over everyone else, who always seemed in control of every situation and knew with such confidence, that he was the winner.

This was a man, who had hit a barrier he had never before come across.

"Tell me" He said, his tone quiet but still holding an annoyed edge. "Tell me what that was about."

For a few moments, no one said anything. The tense silence blasting away any previous thoughts they had.

"I..." Began Verde. "I said something I shouldn't ha-"

"Bullshit!" Screamed Bun-Bun.

"She was coming to try and bother you! I told her no since you were so tired and just wanted to rest!"

The lie was so blatantn that Bun-Bun was fairly sure she was going to get caught, but if she could pull this off...

"That is not true! This lying whore was just gonna ju-"

Brutus stopped her with a raised hand, even when he was exhausted he still commanded such an imposing presence.

"That lying whore." He spat the word out with such venom, that Verde was surprised it didn't land on the floor and melt through. "Was my first friend here, and practical confidant. If she were to lie to me, I would know."

Verde's mouth flew open in offended shock, and she let out an indignant huff. "What about my face, she made me ugly!"

Brutus just stared at her, scrutinizing her rapidly swelling eye, busted lip and broken nose. The red of her blood clashing horrendously against her clothes. In his eyes however, she was the only one who was injured between the two of them, so Bun-Bun most likely got in a preemptive strike, and such damage taken despite aura was quite the indicator as to how much force was behind it.

Bun-Bun had to be quite...strong to inflict that kind of damage in a single punch, and to strike first when the enemy was at the proverbial gates, was a practical neon sign of her ability to react quickly and not sit there and gawk.

Much like what Verde was doing now.

Brutus was no fool, he knew what the girls were really fighting about, hell, he had heard it through the door, but while Bun-Bun had indeed lied to him, it was a power play to get him on her side and against Verde, once again showing her intelligence and ability to react quickly.

And in that moment, he made a decision.

"Verde." He began, the girl in question looking to him with wide, hopeful eyes. "Yes?" She stammered out, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Your inadequacy is noted." He pointed to the door. "Leave."

And leave she did, in a flurry of tears and wails.

Brutus sighed, once again running his hand through his hair, he was shelled out, and he was a little surprised that the wind didn't whistle when it passed through his ears. He closed his eyes and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He was tired, so, so tired, idly his sleep-addled mind recognised the shuffling of feet, and the presence of someone sitting behind him on the bed. Cool hands snaked around his neck, and a chin came to rest gently on his shoulder, nuzzling into his neck.

This time, he nuzzled back, their cheeks coming together as he ran a hand through her hair.

"So." He began, the previous annoyance gone from his tone, replaced by a playfulness that Bun-Bun had never heard before. "I'm your boyfriend?"

Bun-Bun didn't shy away from the question, a small giggle escaping her mouth as she continued display her affection to her significant other. "Yeah." She replied. "What, would you rather be Verde's boyfriend?"

Brutus leaned his head back into Bun-Bun's soft chest, his eyes closing as she lazily began to play with his hair. He let out a content sigh as they shifted around the bed, laying down on the mattress together.

"One so weak does not interest me."

She hummed in agreement, her mouth far too busy delivering little kisses against his cheek.

She let out a sad 'Awww' when he rose his hand to make her stop, but cooed in delight when he rolled to face her, wrapping his arms around her and throwing his leg over hers as he dug his face into the crook of her neck.

"I'm glad we're together, Brutus."

"I am too, a strong woman such as yourself really does it for me."

With those last words, the newly formed couple pressed together, and let sleep overtake them.

 **A/N**

 **Sorry this took so long, I haven't been feeling well recently.**

 **So the woman has been chosen! Verde proved too weak for Brutus's affections! (She'd probably break when the time for dirty stuff came anyway.) Bun-Bun has been declared the clear Victor, but is Verde gonna let her have it?**

 **Find out next time on Primus Ball Z!**

 **Also, if anyone wants to help write, or submit Omake's, just message me.**


	8. Hot buns and cold showers

Soft flesh yielded under firm fingers and tiny snores permeated the air. Bun-Bun was coaxed from her sleep by the gentle rays of sunshine flowing through a nearby window. A breeze drifted lazily through, brushing coolly against her skin. She felt strong arms, as solid as an oak shift about her, and murmered words sounded from her neck, hot breath washing over skin, causing her to shiver in delight. Brutus shifted again, his legs untangling from hers as he turned to face away from her, the heat from his back warming her. He muttered some nonsense before his legs swung over the side of the bed. There was the sound of clothes shuffling, before the creak of an old chair sounded.

She rolled over as well, finding her boyfriend sitting in a wooden chair, dressed in his casual clothes. His eyes, previously on his scroll, were now focused entirely on her, practically drinking in her presence.

She loved that about him, how he could communicate so much with just his eyes, she felt like he could see so much more than she could, and how he always had this feeling of power about him, like he knew he was stronger than you, and it was a cosmic truth that you were beneath him.

She really loved it.

She yawned and stretched, her joints popping as she moved to roll off the bed, landing on her hands and knees.

She knew from a quick glance that he was expecting her to stand up, but she had something else in mind.

Slowly, _sensually_ , she put one hand in front of the other, sliding along the floor as she stretched again, her bouncy chest squishing against the floor as she lowered her torso to it. Her backside, clad in the shorts as it was, bulged out as she raised it, giving it a slight wiggle when she saw him raise an eyebrow.

Then, she _crawled._

She slid against the carpet, dragging herself closer to him, swaying her voluptuous body in mesmerizing movements. She knew she was desirable, and she knew he knew it, but right now, she wanted to make her future-hubby squirm.

She reached his leg, her delicate hands winding their way up as she dragged herself onto him, sliding every inch of her she could manage over every inch of him she could find. Slowly, achingly slow, she pressed herself against his groin, sliding her chest along it and up his stomach so that they could stare into each other's eyes.

Their gazes met, her sultry, seductive allure clashing with his calm demeanor, but as she looked into his eyes, seeing how they focused so intently on her, she knew she had him where she wanted him.

Their breath mingled, their scents intertwining, she was ready. She leaned down, prepared to take his lips on her own, and start the wild morning that she had no doubt would leave her exhausted.

The door slammed open.

"Hey bro! What's up-!"

Instantly, everything went quiet, and for the first time that morning, but quite for the wrong reason, Brutus sighed.

(@)

Yang was excited, she had been planning this day for awhile now, where she would spend some time with her younger brother, maybe spar, talk about things, she knew that he'd never admit it, bit he'd be excited too.

But she didn't expect this kind of excited.

Sitting in the room was her brother, but practically glued to him was a bunny girl, clad in a tight fitting shirt and a rather, in her opinion, shorts far too small for her. The girl was breathing heavily, her face a tomato as she stared blankly in Yang's direction.

No one said anything, the awkwardness that so heavily clogged the air murdering any words before they could form.

More silence, more awkward stares.

Finally, it was Brutus who spoke. "Impeccable timing as ever Yang." He said, strong hands grabbing the bunny girl and guiding her off his lap. He stood up, grabbed a towel off his dresser, and made for the small shower tucked away in his bathroom.

The awkward silence broken, and a prime oppurtunity for teasing firmed itself from the ashes.

"Going to take a shower?" She said, her tone dropping into a playfulness all too common for her. "Need to rub one out?"

He took it in stride, to his credit. "Maybe." He turned the knob, stepping inside. "That's not a bad idea."

He closed the door, barely blocking the missile that collided against it.

"No! You don't need to rub anything out! I'm right here!"

The bunny girl scratched at the door frantically, desperate to get inside and obtain her long awaited prize.

"Use me-e-e!" She wailed. Fists beating on the door in a futile effort to get in.

Yang couldn't help but laugh. She whipped out her scroll to record the bunny girl, and send a quick message to her brother about where to meet her.

(@)

The cold water rushed over him, cooling his burning skin. He let the water cascade over him, content to let it was away his troubles. He had been so close to her, he could smell her body, her sweat mixed in with his. He had never been in such a situation before, never been so _close_ to someone like that before. He knew what she wanted, hell, she was screaming it outside his door.

But the question was, did he want it?

He knew part of him wanted it, but he had two heads, he better think with the one with a brain. If they had gone all the way, done the deed, and she had gotten pregnant, what would he have done? An abortion was out of the question, any progeny of his deserved to live and be raised, and what of his career? He was barely into three months at Signal, an unexpected pregnancy would rip his aspirations from his fingers and cast them into the fiery pits of hell. Not to mention having to explain to Yang or Ruby that he was going to be a father soon.

The water ran down from his hair, parting in rivulets to run down his muscled frame. He was desperate to calm himself down, his normally iron-clad grip on himself had disintegrated instantly, leaving him raw and exposed. He shuddered again as he thought of her.

Her large breast as they swayed underneath her frame

Her shapely thighs.

Her tightly clad backside, the way her flesh jiggled an-.

He shuddered, the cold water becoming like ice against his skin. He really needed to calm down, the water was barely helping, and Bun-Buns constant cries were not helping.

For a moment, he considered letting her in, of only to help relieve his 'Pressure'.

He immediately crushed the idea, that hot-blooded girl was the cause of his predicament, and while he wasn't mad at her, he was a little apprehensive about being around her in his current state. All she would have to do would be to show a little more skin, flaunt that backside of hers, or even walk a certain way and he was sure he wouldn't be able to resist.

Why was this so hard!

He slammed a fist into the wall, watching small chips of paint float down to the water below.

Why was he so hard!

Practically shoving the shower to cold, he sighed as he realized he was in for a long haul.

(@)

Yang and Brutus walked down the street, the latter thankful to get out of his woman's grabbing clutches. As soon as he had stepped foot out oh his shower, she had rushed him. It had taken all his strength to get her off, and all his will not to have her get him off.

Passing a cafe, the two ducked inside, anxious to recover on the breakfast they had missed that morning.

Grabbing a seat near the window, the two grabbed a menu and began pouring over the choices.

"So." Began Yang, her eyes not leaving her menu as she spoke. "What was that all about this morning?"

His own eyes not leaving his menu, Brutus sighed, something he had been doing alot recently. "We slept in the same bed last night, I was too tired to ask her to leave, and she was rather soft. Nothing happened however, until today anyway."

"But this morning, explain that to me."

"I had just woken up, and had sat in my chair to think on my new relationship, when she woke up and started crawling on the floor towards me."

Yang coughed a little at that, obviously not expecting such detail about her brother's encounter. When she had regained her composure, she motioned for him to continue.

"Well." He started. "She came close to me, closer than anyone else has, she...rubbed her way up my body, and had just sat in my lap when you came in."

Yang hummed, her mind ablaze with thoughts.

"Well, how did you feel?"

The question, while a little unorthodox, was one she had been dying to propose, if someone wanted to jump her younger brother's bones, then she needed to know if he was ok with it.

She was not going to end up a forced aunt.

She flicked her gaze to Brutus, his face as stony as the armor he wore into battle, but to her, someone who had been with him his entire life, she could read it like a book.

The twitch of his right eye, the way his eyes stopped reading and focused on one spot, the fact that he looked so calm gave her mountains of info.

He didn't know.

The answer set off sirens in her mind, sisterly instincts demanding she help him through this crisis. For as long as Yang had known him, Brutus had never seemed confused by anything, always having an answer, having an out, alalways being one step ahead of everyone else.

To see him so...lost was quite concerning.

"I don't know." Came his strained reply, the words leaving a bitter taste in his mouth, so unused to uttering them as he was.

"I felt so...energized, my blood ran hot, I knew what part of me wanted."

Yang hummed again, nodding her head as he went on.

He clenched his hands down on the menu, his brow furrowing in one of the only ways he showed emotion. Doubt played across his eyes, and apprehension came screaming on its heels.

"But that's not what I wanted, I've never had a relationship before, and I didn't, I don't know what I would do if she ended up pregnant."

Yang stretched her arm across the table, her hand landing on his so as to comfort him. She knew what he meant, he was afraid that if that girl had gotten pregnant, what would he do. He was fifteen, sixteen in a few months, which was way too young to be worried about things like that, but his hesitation was good, it may have just saved his career.

"Look, bro." She began. "I understand what you're saying, and it sounds to me like your a little overwhelmed right now, and that this relationship of yours is moving too fast. I mean, didn't you guys start dating just last night, and she tried to shag you this morning? I know I wouldn't want a relationship like that."

For awhile, he said nothing, content to let her words sink in. When the waiter came, they ordered their food, and when tthe waiter was gone, silence reigned.

"I think." Brutus said after some time. "That I'm going to take one of those training missions, get me some space between me and Bun-Bun. Learn some stuff, and get some time to think."

"That's a good idea. Which one are you going to take?"

"Something up north, near the mountains."

With that said, the two left their words to hang in the air, content to make idle chatter and eat.

 **A/N**

 **Dun-Dun-Dun another chapter bites the dust! Looks like Bun-Bun can't wait to get it on with her Hun-Hun, but Brutus isn't quite ready for that yet, and now that Yang is involved, will she be having words with our seductive bunny?**


	9. Butter-Rum-Butter-Rum

Yang Xiao Long was not in a good mood, the talk between her and her brother the day before had left her mind filled with worry. She had never seen him so filled with doubt, so confused, least of all over a girl.

Hell, he had never even shown interest in a gurl before! She used to think (and slightly hope) he was gay!

But his confusion, his doubt, every emotion he was feeling was manifested into the something Brutus excelled at.

Aggression.

She watched as her brother and his opponent circled each other down in the ring, Brutus's opponent scampered with an agitated hesitation that shown in his movements, the obvious fear restricting his response time and lacing his attacks with a desperation.

Brutus showed no such weakness, his huge lumbering steps booming against the floor like thunder, the gaze of his helmet locking onto his target like a bird of prey. His sword hung loosely in one hand, his fist relaxed, ready to strike and smash, or defend and crush. His movements were fluid, like the armor he wore moved with him.

The two continued to circle each other, Brutus's admittedly intimidating visage playing its intended part, making him seem insurmountable, indestructible, immortal.

The fight kicked off in a flash, his opponent letting loose a cry of rage and charging forth, blade poised to stab. Frantic muscles stretched and contorted, a young heart beat with a fiery desperation and a fear-addled mind poured every ounce of hope into this one strike.

Brutus caught the blade in his fist, and with a great heave, brought his sword down on it.

The weapon shattered, metal fragments were sent flying in every direction, electrical components sparked and smoked with interrupted flows of energy.

Brutus had won.

The fist to his opponents face was just a final fuck you.

From that single action, that one final fist, Yang knew everything she needed. That last punch was unnecessary, un-needed, and a waste of effort.

Brutus was _pissed_.

He wouldn't show it, wouldn't let it affect his speech, nor his sociability, nor let it eat away at him. He never did.

They were very different in that regard.

She used her anger as a weapon, a tool, a means to fight, whereas Brutus bottled it up, and to her knowledge, locked it away, preferring the cold calculating logic of his mind to the fiery hot blood of his heart.

"Did you see that!"

The girl next to her, Bun-Bun, was practically bouncing in her seat, her eyes glued to the spectacle below. "That was so cool!"

She leaned back, her hands flying to her breast as she crossed her legs. Her tongue snaked out and licked her cherry lips. "~He deserves a special reward~"

Ok. She has had enough.

Reaching her hand up, Yang grabbed a handful of the girl's bunny ears, and viciously hauled her face down to hers.

"Listen." She snarled. "You need to quit trying to jump his bones! You've got him confused and doubtful. You've been dating all of two days and you're already trying to have his babies!"

Yang was used to being feared, she was strong, tall, and had a temper like a volcano, so whenever she dropped a threat, or sought to intimidate someone, she was used to getting what she wanted.

So someone shoving a pistol in her face was definitely a surprise.

One minute she was staring at a shocked bunny-girl, the next she was staring down the barrel of a magnum.

"And just who are you to tell me what I can and can't do? And who are you to tell me What my dear sweet Brooty feels?!"

With a flick of her thumb, Bun-Bun pulled the hammer back.

Yang desperately waved her hands in the air in front of her, shaking them in an effort to stop the hostility. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Ease off the trigger there hotshot! I'm his sister Yang!"

In a flash, the gun was gone.

"You're his sister!? That explains why you came in the room yesterday!"

Yang grimaced, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "Yeah, about that. Me and my brother had a talk and he wasn't quite happy with you doing that to him."

Bun-Bun cocked her head to one side, her bunny ears drooping with gravity.

"But I thought all guys liked to have sex?"

Yang rolled her eyes. "Well yeah, it's in their nature, but Brutus is uh...a bit..apprehensive about that subject."

Now Bun-Bun raised an eyebrow. "I don't see why, he's packing a freaking cannon."

Yang's face grew red at that, and she sputtered and choked on her own spit. "Th-That's not something I want to hear! How do you know anyways?!?"

This time Bun-Bun turned red, and she jerked her head to face away from Yang.

"I may have partaken in some late-night 'Ministrations.''

"You jacked my Brother in his sleep!?!?" Yang hissed out, her cheeks now blazing red.

Bun-Bun huffed and turned her body away from her, crossing her arms and turning her nose up in the snobbiest way possible.

'In my defense." She began. "He slept very well afterward."

"Eww! That's so nasty!"

"Well when you get a boyfriend, little miss prude, you'll find out how hard it is to keep you're hands off of them."

Yang gawked at the amount of sass she was getting. This wasn't right! She was the sassy one!

"However." Began Bun-Bun. "Since you are his sister, you might know something I can use to get on his good side, if I am not on his good side already."

"He's planning on signing up for a trip to get away from you." Yang deadpanned.

Bun-Bun gasped, her hand flying to her chest in shock. Her eyes immediately teared up, and her breathing kicked into high gear.

Maybe Yang shouldn't have been so blunt.

"H-He wouldn't do that! He loves me!"

"Bun-Bun, you've been dating for two days, and you tried to do the do with him, he's not trying to leave you." Yang swam around in her own head looking for the right words. "He just needs some space, he's trying to figure out some stuff."

"But what is he confused about! I get that I tried to sex him up, but what is he so worried about?"

"He's afraid you'll get pregnant."

With those words, Bun-Bun deflated, seeming to fold in on herself as she dropped her head in her hands. "Of course, how could I forget that? If I end up pregnant, our career's are over! His career is over!"

She shook her head in her hands, mumbling to herself and shaking. Yang was afraid that she'd break down into tears, and cause a scene. Something she really could do without.

Bun-Bun looked up, her face red and her eyes puffy.

"Yang." She sobbed. "I messed up, I put our relationship in danger, and I was such an idiot."

 _'Yeah, you were.'_ Part of Yang wanted to roll her eyes at the asinine idea that Bun-Bun's relationship with her brother was anything mire than the passing fancy of a hyperactive girl, and the other part wanted to help her fellow woman.

"I don't even know him that well, how could I ever make it up to him?"

Well, there was always a way to do that, but that was a family secret, and Bun-Bun was not family.

The bunny girls shoulders shook as she sobbed pitifully into her hands.

"Okay." Yang sighed. "I'll tell you how to get back on his good side."

Instantly, the bunny girl shot up, her tear stained face a mixture of hope and curiosity.

She _could_ not believe she was doing this.

"If you want to get on his good side." Yang continued. "Buy him some Butter-Rum candy."

It was Brutus's favorite candy, and many fights were settled with its purchase. She remembered when their dad, Taiyang, had accidentally broken Brutus's favorite toy soldier, and despite profusely apologizing to the irate six year old, Brutus would not speak to him. This behavior carried on for a week, Brutus never answered, never spoke, never talked to his father.

Until Taiyang offered him some Butter-Rum candy.

Ever since then, if they wanted to earn his favor, or settle a fight, they bought him some sweets and he was fine.

Bun-Bun was ecstatic, her previous joy returning full force and with a vengeance. "Really!? Just give him some candy? Just like that?"

"Yep." Yang confirmed, crossing her arms and smirking. "Just like that."

"What else does he like? I want to know everything!"

They passed the rest of the class that way, talking in hushed whispers and quiet tones so as to avoid the teacher's ire.

Soon enough, Bun-Bun had herself a plan worthy of legends.

And all it had taken was some fake tears.

 ** _A/N_** ** _._** ** _._** ** _._** ** _Welp. My data ran out, so I haven't been able to write. As for the chapter, I feel that it is sub-par compared to the rest, so dont be surprised if I redo it. I'm trying to keep this story linear, while also fleshing out characters and writing romance between Brutus and Bun-Bun. But I digress._** ** _As for the guest that asked if Faunas can get pregnant by a human, I don't know. But I do know that it is not beasty ( I say in disgust as I desperately try to hide later chapters.) because the faunas are human, just not as human._** ** _Until next time, I love you all. Also, check out my buddy BluePanedGasMask and his story Broken Branches, It's really good._** ** _Review and fav! I'm a review whore!_**


	10. Jungle love, it's driving him crazy

Taiyang couldn't help but feel prideful, his chest jutted out, and his walk portraying just how pleased he was. He had just gotten out of a conversation with the administrator of Signal Academy.

And what a conversation it was!

He had always known his children were excellent fighters, Yang took after his own fighting style, while Brutus developed his own style of hand-to-hand focused on grapples and reversals, not to mention his newly added addition of sword play.

He had no idea they were this good however. Two months in and Brutus was the top ranking student of his class, with Yang following close behind by just a few other students.

So it was no surprise when Mrs. Sky had called him in to request permission to sign Brutus up for the Vytal Tournament Junior Leagues.

Brutus would be _ecstatic!_

(@)

"No."

Brutus was _not_ ecstatic.

"But why not son? She asked for you by name!"

"I am far too busy with my projects to go fight in some tournament."

Brutus moved about, several stones covered in strange writing being assembled and disassembled on the table in front of him. He picked up a cylindrical stone and inserted it into another stone, the two conjoined pieces sparking with red lightning before fizzing out. Brutus quickly wrote something in an open book next to him.

"Son, please, this is an excellent oppurtunity for you to boost your career to the next level! You could be famous!"

The idea of fame didn't sit well with Brutus, tons of people constantly watching your every move, begging for your attention.

He may as well shoot his work in the head.

"Being famous has about as much appeal as being shot. My work here is too important to give up for such a paltry notion."

"So you're just going to throw away your future because of some neon stones? Son, this is too important to give up because of some obsession with geology."

For a while, they said nothing, his father's words hanging in the air unchallenged. Brutus tried to occupy his thoughts on the experiment in front of him, tried to focus on the rocks, but he couldn't, his dad's insistence on the topic vying for his attention with a bloody and heavy hand.

A tournament, a place of Champions, where the strongest fighters go, albeit in the Junior leagues, but that was all that was available to him. Still, if there would be any consolation, it would be that there would be fighters leagues above the inexperienced filth that pervaded this place like maggots on a corpse.

Still, the prospect of fighting was definitely appealing, the challenge of overcoming those supposed champions was the only shining temptation for him.

However, the work he was doing now was important, and he couldn't afford to play it off like it was homework, if he could pull this off, it would be a powerful boon.

If he could get it to work that was.

His mind wandered back and forth between the two subjects, until finally, with a great sigh, he placed down the parts before him.

"Very well dad, I'll fight in that blasted tournament."

He ignored the fact that his dad jumped for joy.

"That's great son! I'll tell Mrs.Sky that you accepted."

Brutus heard his father walk across the room, and heard the door shut.

Finally, maybe now he could focus on his work.

He turned his attention back to the desk, and the myriad of parts that lay on it. These parts were nearly exact replicas of the ones that comprised up of the old atlesian knight two-hundred models. It was all that he could procure from the internet, the later models being too oobscure or too new for public knowledge. While the knight two-hundreds were old, slow, and difficulties with power were always a problem, they made up for it due to their sheer robustness and mass producability, as well as their strength, relying more on close quarters combat due to the lack of modern dust-mining techniques that nust weren't around fifty years ago.

Picking up an aetheric transistor, a stone inlaid with metal so as to promote electric currents, Brutus coupled with its partner and inserted them into the main energy cell housing. However, instead of a dust-powered energy cell, the parts slid into an aetheric resonator, which was circuitry built into a stone that he had spent hours gathering energy into. Everything was going smoothly as the parts clicked into place, and red lightning shot out of the end, signaling a live current.

Writing down that energy gathered from un-reality could be converted into a form of electricity by running it through metal in his book, Brutus quickly began to assemble the rest of the parts.

After awhile, Brutus had a fully assembled droid in front of him, but there was a problem.

It was a fully assembled, unpowered droid.

For some reason, the rest of the droid could bot draw power from the aetheric battery, and this left its corpse dead and hollow.

Quickly dis-assembling it again, Brutus ran through the parts, pouring over them in intricate detail. He needed to have this project finished before tomorrow, when he would take that mission into the mountains. He was already lucky that it had been pushed back a day already.

He would be out in the wild, and cut off from the rest of society, with no one knowing what he was doing.

A perfect time to test out the projects he had been doing lately.

But if this wouldn't work, then he would be significantly set back.

He continued to pour over the parts, and after several corrective ministrations, he had narrowed the flawed parts down to a few candidates.

Now all he needed to do was correct the dovetail and the incline trajectory of the transmitting harness and the auto-correcting stabilizer, while also fixing the information index and electrical pathways and he would be done.

Finally, he was almost finishe-

"BRUTUS!" The door burst open, revealing Brutus's loving companion. "I've brought you some candy baby!"

 _'For fuck's sake.'_

At this point, Brutus wasn't sure if getting shot was a bad idea after all.

(@)

Bun-Bun sat on the bed she and her boyfriend often shared, watching as her aforementioned boyfriend did whatever he was doing. He had been so absorbed in his projects lately, and he was often writing in that big book of his.

She sighed, the lack of attention her boyfriend was giving was really taking its toll on her mood.

Since she had entered his room, he had ignored her, utterly focused on whatever it was in front of him. He fiddled with the parts, joining them together, linking weird chains, examining glowing bits...

...inserting rods into holes...

..Fingering bits...

...Caressing them with his strong fingers..

Uh oh.

She huffed, her cheeks glowing red and her breath being just a tiny bit faster.

Now she was being ignored AND she had to change her panties.

If Brutus wasn't so focused on his work, surely he'd see how needy she was and he would lavish her with all the attention and praise a queen like hers deserved.

If only he wasn't so focused...

So focused...

"Brutus, Baby?"

"...Yeah?"

Perfect, he was talking in that way that men often do, where they're only paying half attention to what someone says, and they just agree with everything.

"You don't want me to get pregnant right?"

In Brutus's fascinating, but still male mind, he barely registered the words 'Don't' and 'Right?' so his subconscious relegated a response suitable to those two words based on the probability of what sentence they were used in.

"..Right."

"So if there was a way for us to cadoodle without me getting knocked up, that would be great right?"

"...Yeah, that'd be great." He absent-mindedly agreed, too busy with examining an aetheric connector to really pay attention.

"I'm so glad you think so, so when I get out of the shower, and I'm all squeaky clean. I want you to plunge your iron-hard shaft in my big, juicy booty."

Bun-Bun was excited, but also worried. This was it, the final test. The sheer dirtiness of what she had said may be enough to shock him out of his stupor and all that she had said would come rushing back to him.

She desperately hoped he wouldn't notice.

"...Yeah, sure, whatever you want."

He hadn't even spared it a second thought, had he?

She practically exploded off his bed, running up to him and planting one big, wet kiss on his cheek, having to bend down a little due to their height difference.

"Thank you so much babe! I promise I'll be out of the shower real quick!"

"...Do what now?"

He looked shocked, and confused. His face that was always set in a intimidating scowl quickly forming a masterpiece of confusion, then one of shock, then finally a mask of grief as all he had just agreed to came rushing back to him.

"Look, Bun-Bun, as much as I would love to, the work I'm doing here is much too important to really give up for -"

"Upupup." She tittered, wagging her finger in front of him. "You already said, so I'm going to shower, and when I get out."

She pulled him close to her, her tongue snaking out and licking her lips as she eyed him hungrily.

"You, Mr. Pirate, are going to plunder my booty."

 **A/N:**

 **Huh, Bun-Bun likes butt-stuff. who knew?**

 **I don't know if you guys want me to include lemons in this or not. If yes, let me know, if not, I'll do a timeskip to directly after they do the deed.**

 **Review and fav, my friends!**


	11. Lemon but no real plot so ehhhhh,

Brutus stood at his workbench, and for the first time in his life he had no idea what to do. He could hear the shower going, hear Bun-Bun singing, the sweet notes ringing with a sour tune in his ear. He was half tempted to stay where he was and wait for her to get out, the image of her prostrated in front of him definitely had an allure to it.

The other half was throwing a tantrum about how he had gotten distracted from his work. Brutus was so flabbergasted that he didn't even hear the knocks on his door until they had risen to a great crescendo. Shaking his head, succeeding a little in clearing his mind of its hormone-covered funk, he quickly made his way to the door.

"Hey kiddo."

"Oh, hello uncle Qrow, what brings you to visit?"

Qrow shook his hand and gestured at Brutus. "I heard you had decided to enter the Vytal tournament Junior leagues, was gonna talk with you about it."

"Don't remind me." Brutus huffed. "I have no interest in fighting in that wretched tournament, I only agreed because dad thought it was a good idea."

"Meaning he badgered you into agreeing." Qrow said.

"Precisely. I have too much to deal with right now to focus on a tournament against my lessers."

Qrow raised an eyebrow, and leaned his head to the side as he peered beyond Brutus and into his room. Brutus bristled at the breach of privacy, however slight and unavoidable as it was, but he let his uncle look, it wasn't like he had anything to hide from him anyway, or any incriminating evidence.

Except Bun-Bun's dirty clothes that she left laying about. Ever since the girl had decided to stay with him, she never went back to her own room, she lived, ate, changed and slept in his room.

"I can see that you're busy. I can hear her singing." Qrow chuckled after he said this, and Brutus had to suppress a growl.

"That's not what I meant." Brutus spared a glance behind him, wincing when he realized just how filthy his room was. "Let us..talk somewhere else."

Qrow hummed as Brutus stepped out of his room, shutting the door behind him. He turned to walk down the hall, Qrow following him.

"You know." His uncle began. "Not everyone is below you, as you keep saying."

Brutus grunted, the falsity in that statement sparking a sense of humor he rarely exhibited. "Are they not? I have risen to the top of this academy in two months with barely any effort. Anyone who challenges me requires the barest attention to beat."

Qrow frowned, that was not the response he was hoping for, or one that he was remotely pleased with. Brutus was becoming arrogant very fast, and Qrow did not like arrogant people.

Like his sister.

"If you keep thinking like that, you won't pay attention to your enemies, and one of them is going to get you and knock you off your pedestal, and it'll be a long way down from there."

Brutus hummed, whether in agreement or in disbelief, Qrow couldn't tell. They made their way outside and into one of the courtyards around Signal, they found a bench and sat down.

"Brutus, you need to realize that these people aren't your lessers, as you love to put it, they're people who just aren't as good at fighting as you, cut them some slack."

Brutus hummed again, pondering his uncle's words. Was he being pompous? His skill was apparent, but he did rely almost whole-sale on his armor. Still, everyone else couldn't hold a candle to him, and the evidence all pointed to him being superior to them.

But was he superior? By what cosmic definition did he contrast his superiority against? Was he superior?

He looked to his uncle, a man he was sure ge couldn't beat. Was his uncle superior to him? In skill and experience, yes, but in a metaphysical or moral sense?

The error of Brutus's thinking rose to the surface, carrying with it a bitter taste.

Brutus thought himself above his peers, and his hubris would have been the poison that brought him low. If he continued that path, his hubris would grow until he would no longer regard any opponent as worthy.

And they would slip a knife between his ribs.

"I understand what you're saying, and you're right. I should never think myself better than my opponent, because I should never under-estimate them."

Qrow smiled, Brutus may be big, but he wasn't dumb. "Exactly, and I'm proud of you for making it to the top." Qrow nudged his nephew's elbow with his own. "And for getting a lady-friend."

Brutus chuckled. "Proud of me for doing what you can't old man?"

"I can get a woman! I've had more than you!"

"And yet you're still alone?"

Qrow huffed, crossing his arms. He stayed that way for a while, before they both burst out laughing.

"You got me good, kid." Qrow said, wiping a fake tear from his eye. "But tell me about her, you plan on marrying her?" He pointedly poked his nephew, ready to begin his teasing in earnest.

"I don't know, she's definitely...eager to please."

"Oh-Ho! Those are the best kind!"

"It's cute, and if it were anyone else I'd ignore them entirely, but I let her get away with it, I can't rightly bring myself to punish her."

Qrow grinned the most shit-eating grin ever.

"I bet she'd love to be punished."

Brutus ignored the jab. "But I also can't bring myself to really like her."

Qrow dropped the teasing, and leaned backwards into the bench. "Well." He began. "Maybe you just don't know her enough."

That was true. Brutus didn't know anything about Bun-Bun, save for her name.

He disn't know where she was born, her hobbies, or anything really.

'Hell, I've never seen her fight."

"Maybe, I suppose I should get to know her before I make any judgement on her character."

"Yep." Qrow stated, slapping Brutus's knee and standing up. "You've got a good head on your shoulders. Your mom would be proud. I know I am."

With that, his uncle left, likely to chase some coworker skirts, leaving Brutus alone on the bench.

Brutus sat there for awhile, enjoying the warm sun on his face. He closed his eyes and smiled. After being indoors and in the aether for so long, he had forgotten how good the sun felt.

He became content, and the sun warmed him into a state of lethargy. His muscles relaxed, his aches and pains, and every stress between melted away. He felt at peace, there was no tournament, no work, no experiments, no aether. Just him and the sun.

"Hello Brutus."

Well that was short-lived.

Cracking open an eye, Brutus saw someone he hadn't seen in awhile. He sighed, though internally, he was intrigued as to why they had sought him out.

"Greetings, Verde."

Verde Blu, the other girl who was after his heart and who he had shut down when he had weighed her merits against Bun-Bun's.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" She gestured to seat next to him.

"It's a free world." He said nonchalantly, lazily gesturing his hand.

She sat down, her small, cream-white legs folding over eachother and her small hands planting themselves in her lap. She seemed nervous, her eyes focusing on any other object but him. Even half-looking at her with his one eye, he could tell.

"It's been a long time." He said, eager to get a conversation underway, even if only to return to his peaceful rest.

"It has." She said back, her tone relaxing a tiny bit as she sank into the bench. "How have you and Bun-Bun been?"

Brutus hummed. "She's been alright, though she has been trying to get me to sleep with her constantly."

"I suspected as much." She announced, her hand leaving her lap to support her chin. "I don't know why you're with her if all she does is try to sleep with you, don't you want anything more?"

Brutus thought on that for a second. He knew that being able to have a conversation with someone without constantly being propositioned to "Pound me like a jackhammer." definitely had a shining allure to him.

"I do want more, I'll admit it. I want more than a sex bunny. I want someone to hold a conversation with me, who I can present a thoughtful idea to and receive an equally thoughtful reply."

Verde hummed, her frame shifting around in her dress. Brutus had to admit, she looked quite nice in that dress.

"Well, I tell you what, Brutus." Verde began. "Meet me in the gardens at midnight tonight, and I'll show you just how much more I can be."

Brutus was about to reply, to tell her how that even as weird as his relationship was with Bun-Bun, he was still committed to it. However, before he could reply, Verde leaned in and kissed his cheek, it was a small chaste kiss, but the emotion behind it was enough to stop him from saying anything.

After that, she sped off.

"Great." Brutus groaned. "Now there's two of them."

Still though, that kiss hadn't been the lust-filled meaningless kisses that Bun-Bun had given him. This one was filled wwith so much emotion that he swore there was some floating around in the aether as a result.

He reached up, fingers grazing lightly over his cheek. The simple act had held so much more meaning than what he was used to.

Perhaps he should meet up with her after all.

Brutus tried to return to his relaxed state, but it was no use, his mind was too ablaze with questions and feelings.

With a groan and a sigh, he begrudgingly went back to his room.

 **A/N** :

( **Lemon ahead guys, just skip over if you don't want to read it.)**

Brutus entered his room, his mind too busy with Verde's actions to realize that there was one very irate bunny standing in the middle of his room, thumping her foot angrily.

"Just where have you been?!" Bun-Bun screamed, her voice snapping Brutus from his thoughts.

"I was...uh...you see my uncle came by and..uh."

Brutus's stammering reply served only to enrage his bunny girlfriend further, and the tapping of her foot increased in rhythm.

"I don't care!" She screamed, marching straight up Brutus. She closed the distance fast, very fast, and Brutus had no time for his muddled brain to react when she grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him onto his bed.

He landed on his backside, and he sat up into a sitting position. "Now Bun-Bun." He started, his aggression rising at being handled in such a way. "There's no need fo-"

 _click_.

Bun-Bun's fingers left the doorknob, the door having been locked and bolted. She turned towards him, a hungry grin on her face.

"Now then, _lover_ , since you can't run away and no one will bother us now, let's get down to business~"

She sauntered up to him, her hips swaying as she tried to be as seductive as possible. She kneeled down in front of the bed, just between his knees. Her hand came up, and quickly unbuttoned his jeans. She licked her lips hungrily as she pulled his pants lower, her eyes not leaving his revealing length as it caught on the hem of his boxers. She breathed in great breaths, inhaling his scent.

Finally, he sprang free from the confines of his pants, erection twitching freely in the air. She leaned closer, her tongue flicking out, licking him from root to tip in long, slow strokes. She giggled when she wrapped her hand around it, feeling his heart beat through it.

"My, my, my. You are a _big_ boy~ Let me help you relieve some _pressure_ ~"

She took his head in her mouth, moaning in delight at the feel of him stretching her mouth. Slowly, she inched forward, pausing to swallow when he reached the back of her throat. She took him deep, her tongue massaging the underside of his erection and flicking all around his length.

She moaned again, sending vibrations into him, and she felt him shiver when she did so.

Brutus grunted, the feeling of her throat as it constricted around him was amazing. He groaned as she blew him, her tongue working expertly against him.

He reached out, grabbing hold of her bunny ears, and pulled her head against his length, forcing her to take in more of him.

She choked, but otherwise didn't say anything against it.

Not that she could, anyway.

He loved it, every second of it. He was in nirvana, his every fiber awash with pleasure.

Suddenly, she pulled off of him, slurping as she pulled his length out of her.

She was huffing, her breath flowing in and out of her mouth as she struggled for air.

His erection swayed in front of her, dripping with spit and other fluids.

"Now that we have you all lubed up." She said, crawling onto the bed next to him on her hands and knees. "Let's go for the _main course_ ~"

She reached back, pulling her shorts down slowly, delighting in the way Brutus's eyes followed her hands. Her shorts came off, and she was fully revealed to him now, her beautiful, upturned bubble butt jiggled with every movement she made, and it bounced with every shake she gave it.

She reached her hands back, grabbing fistfuls of her buxom flesh, and pulled her globes apart, revealing her pink rosebud.

"It's all yours, baby. _Come plunder me good~"_

He didn't need much more encouragement after that.

She mewled in horny pleasure when she felt him take position behind her, and she couldn't help but moan when she felt his tip press against her backdoor.

"Be as rough as you want. _I've been practicing~"_ She sang, eager to please her boyfriend.

With a grunt, he pushed against her little rosebud, burying the first inch inside of her almost immediately. He kept pushing against her, the tightness of her hole harrowing him in the most pleasurable way.

She moaned and mewled like a cat in heat, her head buried into the covers, her breasts squished against the bed and bulging out the side.

' _Maybe I've made a mistake_.' she thought, the pleasure, and pain, coming from her ass being just a little too much for her to bear. He wasn't even in halfway and she was already red-faced and snot-nosed.

She huffed for air as she felt him slam into her, desperate to bury his length inside her. She was hurting now, the practice she had done with her fingers did nothing to prepare her for this.

He grabbed her hips and lifted her ass higher, seeking to get a better angle. She thought for a second, when she felt him stop pushing against her, that he was going to pull out, and the two inches he had managed to sheathe in her was not enough, and he would tell her to blow him again.

Those thoughts were obliterated when he gave a single, mighty thrust, burying himself to the root in her bowels.

She screamed. The burning pain from having her ass ravaged multiplying tenfold, and she was thankful that the bed had muffled her.

She tried to tell him to stop, to ask him to pull out, but a big part of her was enamored with the idea that she couldn't, that she was little more than a toy to him, and she would take whatever he gave her without complaint.

The pain that erupted from her guts as he slammed into her again quickly overrode that idea.

She turned her head to the side, gasping and huffing for breath. "...P-Please.."

"...B-b-Break my butt..."

That was all she had managed to get out, and not at all the message that she wanted. She tried to say that he was going to break her butt, and that he would ruin her, but her mind was so lust-addled that she couldn't speak.

Of all the times for her manipulations to fail, it had to be now.

He slammed into her with even more gusto, and she was sure that her hole would never close again. She moaned and mewled and sobbed, the pain in her behind slowly mixing with pleasure and lust. She had never felt so full! Her moans escaped her without her noticing and soon, the pain had become the pleasure.

She moaned as she felt her insides quiver and her pussy spasmed and squirted a thick stream of cum onto the bed.

She had orgasmed, and the afterglow blended in with her butt-probing into a flurry of pleasure and pain.

Brutus kept slamming into her, grunting as he felt her insides gripping him, and sucking him in further. He was almost at his limit, and he picked up his pace and began to pound her with all his might.

Bun-Bun kept trying to say words of encouragement, but her eyes had long since rolled into her head and her tongue was lolling out of her mouth. All that escaped her was mewls and moans.

It was rather hard for her to talk with her butt crammed full of cock.

Finally, Brutus reached his peak, and with one final slam, he buried himself as far as he could go. A torrent of cum exploded from him, plastering Bun-Bun's insides and painting them white, she mewled and bucked underneath him as her second orgasm hit her. He growled as he flooded her bowels with his spunk, pulling out and slamming into her again.

Eventually, his orgasm petered out, and he pulled out of her. He felt good, amazing actually. Every muscle he had was warm and flooded with adrenaline.

He stretched, his body cracking and relaxing.

He looked at Bun-Bun, admiring his handiwork.

She was still face down in his bed, her hands by her side and her ass up in the air.

Her butt-ring was an angry red, and his cum bubbled out of her, running down her legs in thick rivulets. She twitched and grunted, a stream of spunk shooting out of her ass and onto the bed.

" _...I'm...I'm broken~"_ She moaned, half in pain, half in pleasure.

Brutus delivered a prompt smack to her ass, eliciting a yelp from her.

"Come now, Bun-Bun. Let's go take a shower together."

Bun-Bun just moaned in response, hearing him walk off into the bathroom.

"This..." She began, lifting herself up off the bed and into a standing position, wincing as she felt a twinge of pain from her abused butt, she instantly clapped a hand to her ass, holding in the liquid she had so craved. "..Is the start of something beautiful."

 ** _A/N:_** ** _Well, she got what she wanted, and then some. I'm trying to do some character development but I'm afraid that I'll lose some aspects of his original character. Oh well._** ** _Tell me what you thought!_**


	12. Names and intentions

_Pale hands encircled his own, tender, unspoiled flesh dancing like fire across his own broken, scarred skin. A beautiful face, framed as if by the Gods and painted by an impossible artist upon an impossible canvas._

 _Where once she had been close, an eternal gulf now separated them. Infinite in distance, miniscule in length._

 _The gulf collapsed in upon itself, but did not change, distance became time, and time became thought and thought became action_. _She was there, across this pond of blackness, across this torrent of dark upon an endless sky._

 _"Come to me~" The words echoed in the void, echoed in this shadow of reality, dancing around him like ghosts attempting to sink their cold fingers into his mind. He ignored them and their icy, silken touch._

 _Who are you?" He asked_ _._

 _Come to me~" Came the reply_

 _"I ask again, who are you?"_

 _There was no answer, and Brutus's wire-thin strand of patience became dangerously thin._

 _"Damn it!" He yelled. "Either speak or fight you damned witch!"_

 _In an instant that lasted an eternity, but passed in the blink of an eye, she closed the gulf between them._ _Her eyes bored holes into his being, blasted great sucking wounds into his corpus. She laughed, the tone dancing on a knife edge between sadistic pleasure and joy_

 _."Come to me~" The inky feeling of something wrapping around his body came over him, like great tree trunks coiling themselves around him as a serpent_ _would its prey._

 _"Come to me~" She said again, the constricting things around him squeezing tighter so that he couldn't breathe._

 _"Come to me~"_

 _He thrashed against his otherworldly binds, body whipping to and fro as he was tossed around and shaken like a doll._

 _"Come to me!"_ _He struggled in vain against the scaly tendrils, his mind burning in horror as he saw them for what they were._

 _"COME TO ME!"_

 _"You want me so bad? You can have me!"_

 _In a flash of movement, he managed to get his arm free, and with a great heave, he slammed his fist into the she-serpent's face. She recoiled with the blow, her coils unraveling around him as he fell from her grasp._

 _Brutus landed on his knees, exactly what he landed on was something he chose to ignore. There was no cover, no bushes, nothing to hide behind. As he began to sprint away, seeking to gain distance from the hellish beast-thing that screeched behind him, he realized he was naked. He had no weapons, no armor, and no tricks, only his flesh and mind._

 _The she-demon screamed at him, some old, forgotten language whose words warped the world around him. The blackness shifted, coalesced into horrid shapes. Claws sprung from nothingness and teeth gnashed together in the black._

 _Brutus spun on one heel, narrowly avoiding a claw that manifested in his path. It swiped blindly, razor-sharp talons slicing apart its screaming siblings, whose blighted forms screeched during their death-throes before dissolving into ash._

 _Brutus swung his fist in a wide arc, battering aside a cackling demon that leapt from the horde behind him. A quick glance backwards proved that it was a horde, and he was quickly losing ground._

 _"Trapped like a mouse, an end not fit for one such as yourself."_

 _The she-serpent approached, the horde splitting to make her a path. Her body swayed and moved seductively, drifting from side to side in hypnotic patterns. The horde barked and brayed, screaming for the chance to shed blood, eager to rend flesh. The she-serpent was naked as well, save for a golden headdress of feathers and huge glittering jewels that hung above her breasts._

 _A beast bellowed and charged from the horde, heading straight for Brutus. It leapt into the air, what might pass for arms stretched out before it, claws poised to tear._

 _Brutus sidestepped the attack, wrapping his arms around its neck as it bucked beneath him, jaws snapping and saliva flying out. Brutus gave a twist, the effort monumental in proportions, and the beasts neck snapped beneath the force._

 _"As always, a champion of strength befbefore anything else."_

 _Brutus turned, arms held in a fighters stance as he faced the horde._

 _But the horde was gone, turned to ash at the behest of its master. The demoness giggled, her hand covering her mouth and her breasts heaving with the movement. Her eyes shone with a dark crimson and her skin was pale as ash. Long, jet-black hair that waved in an un-felt wind framed her angular face._

 _Beneath her, where her legs should have been, was a long, twisting snake body, scales as black as the darkness around him._

 _"Don't you know it's rude to stare?"_

 _Brutus's fist clenched, the sheer arrogance of that statement causing his blood to boil._

 _"It's also rude to sick your hounds on a guest! So speak not to me of rudeness!"_

 _She seemed surprised by the response, if the slight delay in her swaying was any indication._

 _"True, but I doubt my sister's servants could have killed you anyway."_

 _What do you mean?"_

 _She didn't answer, waving away his question with a huff. "You are very special, Son Of Cain._

 _"My name is Brutus."_

 _She grinned, immaculate teeth shining in the darkness. "No. No it is not."_

 _"Yes, it is. My mother gave me that name upon my birth, and I will be called as such_."

 _This time, she growled, her snake body whipping in agitation. "No it is not! That name is but a trinket of your existence! It is not YOUR name!"_

 _Brutus crossed his arms, glaring at her. "Then tell me, what is my name."_

 _"Your name is something that carries such weight to it, the very definition of power over something else."_

 _"Tell me, witch. What is my blasted name?!"_

 _She smiled, her body twitching and wagging happily, despite the sinister tone behind it._

 _"Your name is-"_

Brutus slammed himself upright, fists raised in anticipation and his heart pounding in his ears. Darkness greeted him, lit only by the moonlight filtering in through his window. In his hand, held tightly in a trembling grip was his knife. He must have grabbed it out of reflex.

His chest burned with a breath he didn't know he was holding, and he released it with a shaky sigh. He shone with sweat, and a cold shiver passed through him.

 _'What was that?'_ He swung his legs over the side of his bed, one hand rubbing his damp hair and the other holding himself up.

 _'What the hell was that?!'_ The images of what he had seen tortured his mind, carving cruel portraits of themselves into his psyche.

His name, or at least according to the she-serpent, his _true_ name, was settled in his mind, filling in like a puzzle piece.

He grabbed his book, and flipped it to a blank page.

His pen moved against the paper, his body jolting down the lines as if the ideas his hands were striking out were poisonous. He slashed detail across every line, and poured the images onto the paper.

Eventually his hand fell still, and Brutus could barely bring himself to look upon what he had drawn.

There, in every impossible detail, was _her._ The face, the features, the hair. _Everything._ He could remember how she had crushed him, how she could cross an infinite distance without moving. Just thinking about her made his mind ache.

 _'It was just a dream._ '

 _'It was just a dream.'_

 _'Just a dream.'_

He repeated the mantra over and over, desperate to take solace in it. He found no comfort however, and in his heart, in his _soul._

He _knew _she was real.

He scooped up the book, slamming it shut in a blinding flurry of movement. He had to find her, this woman who could haunt his soul so.

 _"Come to me~"_ She had said that, in shouting whispers and truthful lies, she had told him exactly what he had to do.

He had to find her, He had to.

There was no other way.

(@)

Morning had come, and with it came the mission, more of an expedition really, as they would be observing grimm, not fighting them. Still, the school insisted they have an escort as well as for the students to be armed. As Brutus walked through the halls of Signal, he stepped much lighter. Gone was the thundering Shock of his heavy boots, replaced instead by the heavy clicking of hardened soles and combat boots. Gone was the thrum of powered armor, in its place was the gentle noise of leather and metal.

Gone was the weightlessness of powered armor, and present was the weight of conventional metal plating.

"I really dig the new look bro."

His sister's encouragement did nothing to curb the feeling of nakedness that pervaded him. He was so used to having a stone skin that moving about in the flesh was foreign to him now. His new armor was light, perfect for moving amongst trees and bushes while still maintaining a respectable degree of protection.

Holstered at his waist, was a very special weapon. The first of its make, and while still in its prototype stage, preliminary tests in the aether were very promising.

Adjusting the reinforced mask that covered his mouth and nose, Brutus grunted in amusement. His new look, as his sister had put it, did nothing for the tiredness he felt, the 'dream' he had experienced had sapped him of all his energy, and while his body was sluggish, his mood was fiery.

"You be careful bro, I mean it." Yang called to him as he boarded the bullhead.

Brutus merely grunted his response.

As the bullhead took off, someone nudged his arm.

"Hello, My name is Geronimo, what's yours?"

Somehow, Brutus didn't think this trip was going to be worth it.

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _I live! But I also work now. so meh._**


	13. Price of Science

Brutus studied the offered hand, before taking it in his own.

"Brutus Rose, nice to make your acquaintance Geronimo."

Geronimo, as strange a name as it was, belonged to an equally strange an eccentric owner. Geronimo stood about as tall as Brutus did, but all similarities ended there. His hair was done into dreadlocks, and his bare chest was adorned with necklaces of teeth and various bones. He wore leather breeches and moccasins as his only clothes. From what Brutus could tell, his only weapons were the pitted tomahawk and long knife at his waist and the rather plain bow strung across one shoulder.

His weapons were quite low-tech.

But hey, he used a sword.

"Well, It's good to meet ya, Brutus!" Geronimo said as he shook Brutus's hand vehemently. Brutus eventually landed himself a seat, just beside the loading door, hoping to ensnare himself in the scenery and ride out this trip in relative ignorance of the people around him.

More people boarded, most not catching his attention, or bot being worthy of it. As more boarded, his thoughts drifted, not straying far from the 'dream' he had but definitely biding their distance. He thought about his family, and how he hadn't seen Ruby in quite a long time, he thought of his friends, who he was stunningly short on, his only really known associates being Bun-Bun and -.

Verde.

He had forgotten all about Verde. He was supposed to meet her last night, down in the gardens, but after his...activities with Bun-Bun, he had forgotten all about it.

The thought that he had been so careless as to forget a meeting irked him, and his mood soured tremendously as a result. He sat grumbling in his seat, the lack of sleep and his newfound incompetence causing his ire to grow.

So when the last person boarded the bullhead, he was not very enthused when they decided to sit next to him.

Brutus spared a glance to his neighbor, and his anger yielded to mild surprise.

The person next to him was none other than Verde. Brutus's eyebrows rose as he met her eyes. The eye contact didn't last long before she huffed and looked away.

"..Verde.." He began.

"Save. It." She barked back. His chest tightened in anger, the stress from last night being like gas thrown onto a forge. His hand shot out, gripping her by the shoulder, and while he was not in his armor, his unaugmented strength was enough to make her gasp in pain. Brutus wheeled her around roughly so that she was facing him. She scowled when there eye's met, and something stirred deep within Brutus, something hot, primal. Brutus growled in displeasure at her defiance, but something within him admired it.

Still, he would not tolerate such behavior.

Brutus held her in her spot, her struggles meaningless against his gargantuan strength.

"Now, listen to me." He hissed, chemical stink intermingling with his breath causing Verde to blanche and gag. She made to turn her head away, but his hand clasped her jaw and snapped it back to him. She growled at him, and that primal urge rose within him again. He squashed it down under his will.

"I do not appreciate your attitude...I understand that I missed our meeting, but I had more important things to deal with." Verde made to speak, but a violent shake from him forced her to be quiet.

"Either you drop this pitiful act, or I will throw you out of this aircraft." He punctuated his point by tightening his grip on her, and slightly shuffling her towards the exit.

Inevitably, someone took notice of the situation, some red-haired boy carrying a club. "Hey!" He shouted. "Get your hands off of he-"

"MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS FUCK-WAD!"

The outburst surprised everyone, especially Brutus.

At the onset of the ginger's warning, Verde had wheeled around on him, screaming at him from the top of her lungs.

Everyone on the bull-head was stunned, and silence permeated the air, even the engines had ceased revving, as if the craft itself had taken notice of her exclamation.

Brutus had never seen this side of Verde, and that raw feeling flamed into life, where he once saw a weak willed, meager girl, now stood a fiery spirit, like a blind tigress uncaged.

She was so much more than what he thought, perhaps she was deserving of a...second look.

He released his hold on her, his hands retreating to her arms, where he laid them down gently upon her. This action shocked her out of her infuriated stupor, and she gaped at the action, her cheeks lighting up.

"Verde.." He began, his wonderment and awe leaking into his voice.

"That was hot.."

(@)

The ride in the bull-head was going well, all of the passengers were comfortable, save for two who were a bit closer than was normally accepted, and they had encountered no problems with the grimm so far.

Which was in itself, a problem.

Brutus was hoping to test out some new weapons and inventions he had designed, and he could not do that if this flight went off without a hitch.

For a time, Brutus contemplated what to do, watching the engine's blades spin with jet-wash. What could he do? Not even a nevermore had so much as passed by, just run of the mill beowolves and ursa. He sighed, his mood souring despite the girl who was napping in his lap. He continued to watch the engine's rotation, seeing how they met so intimately with the housing and chassis, barely a few millimeters of space between the blades and the wall.

Just a little bit of space.

The idea came to him unbidden, and he dismissed it at first, but it would not leave. He thought on the idea more, and how simple it would be to execute. He slipped a piece of stone from his pocket, the runes carved on it glowed with a hostile, unstable light that flickered maddeningly.

He stared at it for awhile, contemplating if the risk involved would be tantamount to the reward.

He decided that it was.

With a casual flick of his wrist, Brutus cast the stone into the engine.

The engine detonated as the unstable energies that were so meticulously laced into the stone broke free of their earthly moorings, the resultant jailbreak accelerating the stone instantly, and into several directions. The hyper-charged rock exploded like a frag-grenade, sending super-sonic shrapnel into the engine and the chassis.

The jet-engine fractured, its own speed and force shearing away the blades like wheat before a scythe.

The bull-head listed dangerously, smoke pouring out of one engine as the pilot fought to maintain control, violently jerking the control-stick into the direction the craft was leaning from, attempting to balance it out.

The resultant force threw students from their seats, and onto the starboard door, bodies piling as the living debris groaned and wailed.

Brutus himself remained where he was, standing with one hand on an overhead crash-handle, and the other wrapped around Verde's waist.

The girl had woken up, her eyes bugging out of her skull as she stared downwdownwards into the mass of bodies. "Brutus! What's going on?!"

"It would seem, my dearest Verde..."

The bull-head jerked again, the stain becoming too much for the one engine as it sputtered and died, throwing the craft into a tailspin as the over-corrective directions of the pilot created a massive imbalance in the forces on the airship. The starboard door buckled and split open, spewing screaming students out down hundreds of feet.

"We are going down."


	14. Creatures

The bullhead spun, flame trailing out of its ruined engine, it spiraled out of control, the pilot unable to influence his dying mount. Brutus still had Verde in his arm, the g-forces exerting pressure on his bulky frame. The craft struck nose-first on the side of a mountain, flattening the cockpit, along with its inhabitant, into paste. Flames exploded into the passenger's cabin, eating at everything inside like a ravenous animal.

Brutus heard the craft hit above him, the wind rushing in his ears did nothing to dampen the sound. He hit feet first on the slope of the mountain, his aura took much of the blow, though it still rattled his bones. Brutus rolled shoulder first down the slope, his weight bowling over small trees and steam-rolling shrubs. Sticks whipped at him, and rocks dug into his skin.

Brutus ignored them, his mind focused on keeping himself from planting his face into the dirt, or crushing Verde beneath him.

He crashed into a tree, his body slamming into it. He grunted as it knocked the breath out of him, the 'Light.' Armor he was wearing serving only to batter him with its own weight.

Agony bubbled up from between his shoulders, hot trails of pain searing along his spine. Brutus tried to stand, ignoring the pain in his back.

Verde had rolled out of his arms on impact, she groaned in pain and appeared to be unconscious, but otherwise looked unhurt.

A small victory, while Landing on his back was unplanned, and while the pilot's death was...unfortunate, he would now be able to use his new experiments with no witnesses, so the pilot's pitiful death served a useful purpose.

For a split second, Brutus felt an unfamiliar pang in his chest, no, in his core. It twisted and knotted and burned, filling his being with its cold bite. His mind briefly wondered if the pilot had a family, or a wife, and how they would wait, and wait, well into the night for the pilot to come home, feeling the hours drag into days, the reluctance to accept the truth and its denial.

He thought of how they would cry, and wail, and beg for their loved one to come back.

He could see it, some poor woman, on her knees, begging for her husband to return, to not leave her.

He crushed those images under a wave of disgust. There was no use in begging, or crying, or trying to bargain with some strange entity, such pitiful actions did nothing to help.

They didn't help him with his mother.

Brutus threw the thought out of his head with a vigorous throw. Summer was gone, there was no bringing her back, and it was useless to try.

Still, the sudden feeling of loss pervaded his insides, squirming out of his emotional grip in mocking flurrys of movement.

He could do nothing for it, he decided, he had come to terms with reality long ago.

If there were gods that influenced this world, they were long dead.

Brutus concentrated on the space before him, willing it to break and bend to his will. Reality screamed as it split, a slice in reality forming, bleeding unearthly light into the world.

"Adon, Noda, come forward." Brutus called, his voice booming with power.

For a time, nothing happened, the hole in reality undulating sickly, as if reality was feasting greedily upon its edges. Then, a stone fist gripped the edge, a deep bass groan following soon after. The fist gave way to an arm, a shoulder, before finally, the beast pulled itself from its un-real cage.

Adon, twin brother to Noda, and first among his own kind, stood before his creator, his father, his God. His iron bones twitched in time with his stone flesh. His hands clenched and unclenched agitatedly, the fullness of this world being alien to the great womb he was just born from. His flanged crest, filled with sensor clusters and armor plating fidgeted and ran mass amounts of new data to his brain. The leering skull that rested beneath his crest gazed with hostile intent into his surroundings.

Behind him, his sister, Noda, exited the ethereal womb with a springing hiss of hydraulics.

While Noda and Adon shared the same size, their similarities ended there. Where Adon's claws sparked and raked across eachother in vindictive apprehension of the new world around him, Noda's finely crafted body gyrated on her hip, the razor sharp blades that covered her body gliding through the razor wire attached to her head. She hissed superheated steam from her own skull-like face, the feeling of air and the rush of new data overwhelming her slightly. Her mandibles, edged with a slew of chemicals designed to liquify internal organs thrashed and clicked in rapid succession, poison dripping from her saw-toothed maw.

Brutus had designed these two with very specific purposes, they were to be his Hunter-killers, machines designed with the express purpose of tracking, isolating, and dispatching a target.

Overall, their design had been spot on.

"Adon, Noda, there are others in this forest, not far from here." Brutus swept one arm towards the forest.

"Make sure, there are no survivors other than this girl." He pointed to an unconscious Verde. "And myself."

The killer twins nodded, arms crossing over their chests in a cruel salute.

" ** _So has my creator spoken."_** They intoned in their static-ridden voices. **_"So let my God's will be done."_**

(@)

Yang paced the room, body covered in sweat, and tears. She had hears the news, that her brother's bull-head had suffered engine failure and crashed. The school had tried raising the pilot, but received only static in return. They tried to scramble more flights to send a rescue team, but every other bull-head had cut wires, punctured fuel tanks, destroyed cockpits and a myriad of other issues.

The sabotage was clear, but an investigation was set to launch after the students were found.

Yang continued to pace, close to tearing her hair out with worry, she ignored the pleading voice of her father, who begged her to calm down.

"Calm down? Calm down?!?" She cried at him, tears staining her face and running down her cheeks. "How can you expect me to be calm right now!? My brother might be dead out there!"

"Now, Yang." Tai-Yang began. "We both know Brutus can handle himself, he's one of the best, if not the best student here, he's resourceful, tough, smart, and aggressive." He placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "I have every confidence that he'll be alri-"

Tai-yang's scroll beeped angrily at him, the urgent tone pleading with him to answer. Tai-Yang turned on the screen, and his brow furrowed, before he paled.

One of his student's, Geronimo Red, just had his Aura fade from existence.

Tai-Yang swallowed, knowing all too well what that meant.

Something had just killed one of his students.

(@)

Noda hissed angrily, superheated steam boiling the flesh within her mouth. The screaming of the fleshling had long since ceased, her powerful jaws having carved into its skull and into the soft meat beneath. The forest was silent, but the micro-sensors along her body were abuzz with information. She picked apart the data, throwing away junk info and looping feeds, she parced the information apart, looking for a pattern, a new variable, or a repeating one.

Finally she closed on her prize, there, within the code, was a repeating stream of aural data, happening in a quick tempo.

She bounded away from her kill, the corpse flopping to the ground with a wet noise of desecrated meat.

She had found new prey, and her sensors warmed with the pleasure of the hunt.

(@)

Brutus spun on the spot, his movement letting him evade a lumbering swipe of an ursa's claw, the grimm barely had time to react, having overextended its bulk. The knife plunged down into its eye, before being yanked back with a sickly squelch of gore.

Brutus spun again, drawing the pistol from his belt in a flourish of motion. The pistol hummed as he activated a switch, glass rods infused with aethereal energy cycling into position along its barrel.

Brutus squeezed the trigger, and the pistol released a beam of pure hatred into reality. The beam tore through the beowolf with retina-searing intensity. It burned its way across reality, screaming with a vile intensity as it impacted a tree. The beam halted for a moment, before boring through the proud plant and beyond it.

Brutus lost interest in the beam, instead regarding the molten mess his pistol had become. The power was too high for the material to handle, and the heat that was produced had weakened it further.

Brutus threw the weapon into the aether with a careless backwards toss, he would have to lower the gauge on the glass rods, as well as find a stronger material for the weapon itself. He looked back to Verde, her unconscious form still laying where he had left her.

He would have to take care of that, and luckily, he had just the thing for it.

Another portal opened behind him, and at his call walked a third figure.

There was no leering skull this time, only a faceplate to clustered with machines and wires to resemble anything of a visage. Where the hunter-killers arms had been bladed, there now sat medical tools, supplies, and saws. Needles ran tubes to vials of chemicals and medicine, while forceps and cutters snipped in anticipation.

"Yes, my lord?" The thing asked, her voice was undoubtedly feminine, but still held that inhuman tone to it, like it was too happy to do its job.

"Would you be so kind as to provide medical assistance to my friend there? She seems to have fallen ill." Brutus gestured towards Verde.

"At once, my lord." The medical bot gave a small bow before she rushed off to attend the stricken girl.

Before the portal closed, out stepped four more figures, clad in bulky armor and blank faceplates. Heavy, boxy rifles held close to their chests.

Brutus languished the time and effort it took to craft these ones, more time than any one project had taken. Their size was just a head smaller than his own armor, but their strength was practically the same. Their armor was their body, and for every component he had to place in their shell, he placed even more. They were to be his praetorians, guards he could call on to protect his body. Their armor was gilded in fine gold and scarlet, their weapons and blades aetherically charged, and each one given its own aetheric battery from which to draw energy.

He regretted they were not flesh, but there was no way he knew of to synthesize flesh and imbue an android with emotions.

"You four." Brutus said. "Guard this area against grimm, your top priority is to defend that girl and your fellows."

" **At once, my creator."** Came the reply in unison.

Once the praetorians had clambered off, Brutus warped back into the aether, this time heading off to where he had met that strange woman in the tube.

"This time." He swore. "I'll get what I want, and no one will stop me."

He willed himself in the direction he wanted, and his body glided through the aether like a ghost.

"You owe me answers, woman. And what is not owed, I'll take."

That power still pulled at him, like tantalizing fingers of a lover beckoning him to bed, and he couldn't help but grin when he drew close.

 ** _A/N:_** ** _Guess who got in a wreck and totalled their car!_** ** _This guy!_** ** _Sorry this took so long, data ran out and my job is exhausting._**


	15. To help with secrets

The world, a place filled with loving people, huge trees, and soft grass, now stood empty. The place where she was born, where she went to school, where she grew up, was gone.

The world was void.

Endless mist, curling in shapes and forming eddies among its own incorporeal body, persisted throughout the endless expanse.

A chill passed through her, and she brought her arms up to shield herself from the wind, but quickly brought them over her ears to hide them from the whispers it carried.

How long had she been here? In this bleak and hollow hell? She tried to drudge up any memory of before she was in this place, but her mind was clouded and sluggish, images blurring into disgusting swirls of colorless ichor.

She screamed, but there was no answer.

She kept screaming regardless, desperate to hear anything otheother than the voices that begged her to let them stay, to hear them out. Her throat ached, and her wild screaming dribbled down into pathetic sobs. She was stuck here, in this nowhere that was everything.

"Please..." She begged through tear-stained eyes. "Please...someone..anyone! Let me out!"

She screamed the words, over and over.

There was no answer.

Amongst the voices and the howling wind that carried their pleading words, there was a new sound.

Heavy footfalls echoed across the great empty, their deep, powerful steps brought new experiences to this world of maddening whispers and broken minds.

She sobbed, even as her morose mind finally became capable enough to perceive the new noise. Nothing mattered here, not to her, not to anything. She screwed her eyes shut against the wind, feeling the beginnings of its icy claws against her skin.

But the voices did not come, banished with the footsteps and the new noise.

"Rise, pathetic woman. Rise."

It was a voice, one that wasn't hers and did not echo here in the void. She slowly opened her eyes, still of the notion that the voice was a trick of her mind, desperately trying to entertain itself.

But it was not.

Before her stood a man, tall and overly-muscular despite his youthful features. She beheld his form with the awe of a starving woman given food. She rose to her knees, the position sparking something akin to modesty at her level to his groin, but at the moment, she didn't care.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"First things first girl, who are you, and how did you enter the aether?"

The Aether? Is that what this place was?

"The Aether? Is that where I am?"

"Yes, now answer me."

His voice was hard and cold, like someone would regard a mistake or a unexpected interruption.

"My name is..." She trailed off, the information of her own name fizzling out inside her.

What was her name? It had something to do with...yellow? Stone?

She couldn't remember, she couldn't remember her own name! Panic gripped her, and ger breathing increased its pace as she went wide-eyed with hysteria.

A heavy hand placed itself on her shoulder, the pressure from it alone, and from the contact of another being after so long shocked her from it.

"Calm yourself girl, you'll sink deeper into whatever corpse is around us." He said sternly, looking at the emptiness around them.

She focused, both on his hand and her own breathing until she was back under her own control again.

"This place has seen better days, it wasn't like this when I was here last."

Here last? He had been here before?

"Wait..." She began, her voice quivering with hope. "You've been here before? You know how to get out?!"

He hauled her to her feet, picking her up as easily as she would a flower.

"Of course I can get out." He said, clasping her shoulder with a light slap that nearly threw her back down. She sighed happily, the prospect of leaving this place banishing any dread she was feeling. Though she was still desperate to leave, the void seemed much less empty now. Maybe she could get out now. Maybe she could get back to the real world! There was hope for her now!

"You however, I don't know."

Her hopes shattered.

"What!? Please, you have to take me with you!"

She threw herself at his feet, begging him with pleading eyes and pounding her fists against his legs.

An idea gripped her, and before she could even rationalize what she was doing, she was fumbling with his belt, desperate to take it off.

His hand came down, and gently lifted it away as he bent down to her level, to look her in the eyes.

One hand of his caressed her head in pity, and she sobbed at the action. Her shoulders shook and rose with every pitiful cry she echoed forth.

"Now, stop such crying, it does you no good and it brings me no joy. You're tears are useless, they did not save you before, and they will not save you now."

She stifled and sobbed, eventually tiring out as she calmed down.

"See? That's better, you're a big girl, and big girls don't cry."

His voice was smooth, even, rehearsed. He was talking ro her like she was a child, but she was so starved for human interaction that it felt good where it should have enraged her.

She nuzzled her face into his palm, trying to bury her emotions in his palm.

"Now, when I said that I don't know if I can get you out, I meant that it will take quite a bit of work for me to do so, so you'll need to promise me something in return."

She pulled away from his hand, eyes shining with hope. "Please! I'll do anything!"

He rose to his full height as she scampered on her hands and knees closer to him. While she was...apprehensive at what he would ask of her, she would gladly do anything if it meant leaving this place.

"Not do anything, but give me something, something valuable, something precious, something you can give me only once."

Oh...he wanted THAT. She would have gladly given it to her savior...only tthere was one small problem.

"Oh...um...I..uh...I'm not...a...Virgin, so...yeah."

For awhile, he said nothing, merely stared at her. She shrunk under his gaze, partly afraid of what other virginities he would want and partly afraid because he might just refuse to take her altogether.

A few seconds passed by, and she began to fidget before he burst out laughing. His laugh was deep and jovial, his visible features scrunching up as he laughed.

"No, no, girl...Not that...I have someone else who takes care of those needs. I was talking about something more...permanent."

"like..What?"

He poked a finger to her head.

"Your loyalty and service."

(@)

Ozpin stormed into the elevator, Glynda filing in next to him.

Something was wrong, and Ozpin was very close to calling in help. He had received an alert on his scroll that the maiden's pod had been opened, and that the in-built heart monitor had flat-lined.

The elevator closed, and after Ozpin had inserted his key, began a rapid descent down.

Ozpin had a sneaking suspicion that this was a descent into madness.

The doors opened, and they rushed out in a flash, Ozpin's cane at the ready and Glynda with her riding crop.

Before them stood Amber.

"Amber?!"

Her head snapped up, before her lips cracked in a smile.

"Amber?...Oh! That was it! That was my name! And your Ozpin!"

She made to take a step forward, but she stumbled and almost fell, her body pitching forward.

They made to catch her, but stopped when a muscular arm shot out to catch her instead.

"Now, now Amber. You just got back, I wouldn't recommend any...strenuous activities."

"O-Of course, forgive me, my Lord."

"There is nothing to forgive, now, we must be on our way, there is much to plan out and do."

Amber stood there, conversing with an unknown party hidden behind the shadows of a pillar. Amber returned her gaze to Ozpin, giving him a small smile and a wave.

"So long Ozpin, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've spent far too long in dark and dreary places. Ta!"

With one final wave, she turned to walk behind the pillar.

Ozpin rushed to catch her, but by the time he reached the other side, only darkness and stone remained.

"Glynda..." He began. "Alert James, alert everybody, the fall maiden has gone rogue."

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _I got fired from my job, right after I found out my insurance was 200 a month, After I went 900 dollars into debt to pay for the car I put it on!_**

 ** _Yeeeeeeeeee._**

 ** _Review, Fav, It all helps._**


	16. All that glitters isn't gold

**_"Faith_** ** _without works is dead."_**

The words echoed through Amber's mind, the stomping of her contingent of 'Praetorians' doing nothing to quiet the doubts that shifted within her.

She was dressed in a simple garb, thin sheets of a polished silvery metal overlapping eachother on a dark blue robe. Upon her face, in order to hide her identity, was a dark mask, pulsing lines of strange text danced across its surface, making it to where when someone looked at them, she would appear fuzzy, and distorted.

Her new master, Brutus, as he told her, had sent her deep into the mountains of Vale, with specific instructions on what she would be doing out there. She had tried to ask him what he would be doing, but all she had received was a simple "I am the master, not you." and with that, he waved her off.

She supposed that she should have been a little miffed at his attitude and his dismissal of her, but she could understand, Ozpin hadn't told her everything either.

The snow, which should have normally been whipping about her like some kind of angry goddess, fell gracefully against her clothes, her own heat melting any flakes stubborn enough to stick.

She was pleasantly warm, and quite content with herself and her new master. While Ozpin would send her on missions with no real idea of what she would be doing there, Brutus told her the how, when and why of things.

She knew why she was here, and that was a stark contrast to working with Ozpin.

"Here, we stop here." She said, coming to rest against a cliff face.

The stone sloped harshly down into a cave system, an unnatural one as well. The ruins down in the forest next to beacon were the seat of a castle and its ruling body, and over the centuries its bones had been picked clean by scavengers and prospectors, true. So any wealth it had was long since gone.

But no king worth his salt ever hid all his wealth in his own home.

They descended in the darkness, stabs of light illuminating the dark cave as the praetorians flashlights kicked on and began to sweep the tunnel in tactical patterns.

Down they descended, the praetorians guns moving side to side as they pointed down further into the stone.

Amber was not nervous, and she held herself with confidence. If there were any grimm here, she alone would have been able to handle them, but with four guards as well? Nothing short of a goliath would present a problem.

Amber stole a quick glance at the praetorians ahead of her, their tall backs covered in stone and metal, gilded in gold and silver. She had to admit, being assigned a personal contingent of bodyguards who looked worth more than three times their number of atlesians definitely felt right.

The gun, more akin to a cannon, barked in the lead praetorians hands, the muzzle flash illuminating the cave for a split second. The light bounced off the teeth of a snarling beowolf briefly, before the high-caliber round ventilated its skull.

Its corpse flopped to the ground, its body already disintegrating.

" **Hostile terminated, grimm presence confirmed, close ranks."**

The lead guards voice was deep, but distorted by static. Instantly, her guards closed around her, forming a diamond formation around her. She had ample room to move, but any enemy lunging at her would be hard pressed to fit through the gaps between the praetorians.

They continued walking, finding no more grimm to kill. Soon, the rough walls of the cave gave way to smooth, chiseled stone, broken occasionally by a stained glass window that bled white light into the tunnel.

She could see further now, the hall stretching a good ways before it came to a tall, heavy wooden door.

When they reached the door, she could barely make out etchings on its surface, the wood being too swollen with moisture and rotted to properly read what was written on it.

She gave the door a good push, but it wouldn't budge. Amber took a step back, just now noticing how the two guards who made up the back of the formation had turned around to stare back into the hallway.

She gestured to the praetorians in front of her.

"Open it."

The lead guard released a burst of noise that echoed down the hall, before it brought up its leg and kicked the door.

The doors blew off their hinges, splintered wood flying everywhere with the power of the kick. Amber whistled, the strength her guards must posses was immense, and the realization only made her feel even surer that Brutus was a good master, he had recognized her value as a maiden, and assigned her guards that befitted her station as such.

With bodyguards as powerful as this, he must have valued her a lot.

She stepped inside the room, uttering a quick thanks to the praetorian that kicked the doors in.

Sparkling gems, piles of gold and silver and precious metals lined the chamber in front of her. Huge glass pots filled with rare and expensive types of dust sat surrounded by fat bowls of exotic spices. Glittering weapons, studded with rubies and sapphires and every other color of gems sat in great vats of oil.

"Wow..." She trailed off. "...It's beautiful."

She received no response, her guards filing into the room to check for hostiles.

She ran her hand through a pile of gold, knocking the thick, fat coins onto the floor.

"There's so much..."

She picked up a coin, turning it over in her hand. The coin was unblemished, no rust at all, no tarnish whatsoever.

It was however stamped.

Stamped with the figure of a snake-bodied woman.

(@)

Brutus tore his way into the spot where he had left Verde, careful to make sure his entrance did not disturb the unconscious girl.

The medic he had left in charge was knelt by her side, scalpel delicately peeling back the skin on the side of her head.

"Are there any problems, Doctor?"

The Medical bot, (Gods, he needed to give them names.) Shook her head.

"She has taken a severe blow to the head, and has been unconscious for over an hour. If she does not wake soon, she will be at risk for brain damage."

Brutus hummed, hand reaching up to stroke his masked chin in thought. Could he let Verde die here? It would be quite simple, just leave her where she was and tell the rescue party that she was dead when he made it to the crash site.

Brutus shifted his weight to his other foot. On the other hand, she has her uses. She was young, he assumed fertile, and from what he could tell, possessed good genetics.

His mind swirled with possibilities of what he could do with her. Perhaps if he could figure out a way to vat-grow his own soldiers, she would be the woman from which he harvested the material to do so.

He could see it, his own personal army of soldiers, completely loyal to him, he could hear how they would chant his name, cry out his title as they charged into battle, honoring him with their deeds.

He shook his head, she had been far too kind to him for him to do that to her however, so she would live free, if a little damaged.

"Do what you can, Doctor. She is very important."

"As you say, my Lord."

"Contact Adon and Noda, let them know that I need every female still living brought to me, and that I have a new assignment for them."

He turned from the doctor, not bothering to acknowledge her confirmation for his orders, he knew she would obey.

He climbed upwards into the smashed bull-head, his hands finding purchase in the cracked rocks and debris.

When he reached the top, he looked out towards signal. There was a black dot that was heading towards them, a bull-head if he had to guess.

 _'So they managed to repair the damaged bull-heads by now? That was quick, Bun-Bun must not have done a very good job."_ He filed his disappointment away for later, but in truth, he probably would not bring it up, it took a lot of convincing for him to get Bun-Bun to sabotage the bull-heads, as well as the promise of a bath together and his attention for a week to get her to agree.

But once she found out there were casualties.

Well, he just might have to tie up a few loose ends.

Hearing a scream from the forest, a notably female scream, Brutus climbed back down.

There was science to be done, and specimens to collect.

(@)

Krystal Onyx, third daughter of Jackson Onyx and Sapphire Onyx, cried out in pain when the metal thing pulled her upright onto her knees by her hair.

She was terrified, her gut knotted up with fear and pain, she was openly crying, as were many of the other girls. There were four of them, but she didn't know the rest. These metal things were sick, they had killed the others, hell, one of them was wearing someone's skin!

Her captors snarled and gnashed their mandibles, chittering excitedly among themselves in whatever language they spoke in.

There used to be five of them, but one girl broke away and ran, only to be chased down and sliced apart by the one with the long dreads.

"P-please..." She cried weakly. "Please don't kill me.."

"Do as I say, and I might not."

The voice belonged to Brutus, she could tell that much, he was the strongest fighter in all of Signal, who didn't know him.

He had emerged from some bushes, confident strides taking him closer to her and her captors.

"Wait!" She screamed. "They'll kill you!"

Brutus was tough, yes. But after what they did to Geronimo, she doubted a fully-fledged huntsman could kill these things.

He didn't slow down, his laid back gait bringing him within arms length of her.

"No, they won't."

He knelt down to look in her eyes.

"You, however, they just might."

She was about to question him when he stood up and walked to the end of the line.

He reached out and grabbed a girl by her face, rotating her head as he studied her. He continued for a minute before letting go.

Only for her to spit in his face.

The creatures shrieked and growled, their tight grip becoming suffocating as they raged at what she had done.

Brutus wiped the spit off his face, flicking it to the ground.

"This one is rejected, dispose of her."

The girl cried out in anger, but it was cut short when one of the creatures dragged her off to somewhere behind Brutus.

"Do you see? I am not here to kill you, only to observe and judge. If you merely let me do what I intend, then we will be getting along just fine."

He continued, checking every girl for something only he knew. The two other girls passed whatever inspection he was putting them through.

Finally, it was her turn, and she screwed her eyes shut. Would she pass? Would she fail? She didn't know, and it was killing her.

"Pass, take them away, they are all fine specimens."

With those words, she was hauled away, and into a screaming portal.

(@)

Brutus watched the girls be dragged away into the aether. In truth, he had plans for them, but different than what he had originally intended when he ordered them alive. They would suffice for his needs for now.

Besides, maybe Bun-Bun or Amber would get a kick out of them.

He heard the roar of engines overhead, the rescue party had arrived.

He quickly dispatched a message to the Doctor to follow the twins into the aether and begin tests on the other girls, once he was done, he walked into the clearing.

When he reached the crash, he was greeted in a fiery hug by his father.

"Brutus! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Oh Gods, you'rehurt aren't you?!"

"Father, I am fine, I am uninjured." He assured his panicking dad with a calm wave.

"What about the others son? Are they okay?"

Brutus gestured behind him, into the forest.

"I tried to find any survivors, but they were all dead when I reached them."

Taiyang deflated, his shoulders falling. He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a long sigh.

"I see, I'm sorry you had to find them that way son. If I was only a little faster, I could have saved them.

Brutus brushed past his father, walking towards the now conscious Verde.

"Don't worry dad."

He climbed up into the bull-head, already being swarmed with medical staff and teachers.

"It wasn't your fault."

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _I'm broke boyz, but I must spend._**


	17. Truth and Reconciliation

**"Works without faith are dead."**

Those were the words Brutus had told her. Those five simple words relaying the entirety of a conversation in the span of a few seconds. What was the point in doing something if you did not believe it would work?

Bun-Bun had ran to him, terrified out of her mind at what he had her do. She didn't know that there were going to be casualties! She didn't know that people would lose their lives!

But she was eager to please, and that eagerness had blinded her.

But what could she do?

She couldn't raise her hand against Brutus, she loved him. She couldn't go to the authorities, she was neck-deep in responsibility and guilt as well. She couldn't bring back those people, they were already dead.

What could she do?

"You seem troubled Bun-Bun, what ails you so?"

Brutus's tone was calm and even. It didn't break or waiver or anything, he talked like he always did, he talked like almost a dozen people didn't just die.

"How can you be so calm?! People died! Good people! Because of me!"

He didn't respond, just sat there, head resting on the knuckles of his fist. Even his posture was relaxed, and every second she looked at him, her own guilt grew.

"Is that how you see it?" He said after some time. "That is truly a pity."

Bun-Bun's face turned red, and her eyes narrowed in anger. "A pity?! You think that because I feel guilty for a dozen people dying is a **_pity_**?!"

He didn't move. "Yes, of course I do. You did not kill those people, so why do you shoulder the burden?"

" ** _I_** cut those wires, I sabotaged the bull-heads. **_I_** am responsible!"

"So what if you are? I ordered you to cut those wires, I ordered you to sabotage those Bull-heads, yet I do not feel guilt, so why do you?"

She stood there, silently stewing in her own emotions. She opened her mouth to speak, but he quickly cut her off.

"Perhaps it is because you are a bunny and not a wolf?"

That was it, the final nail in the coffin. She let out a scream of rage and lunged for him. She was seeing red, and had her hands outstretched towards his thick neck.

He caught her hands in a flash of movement, too fast for her to follow. She thrashed against him, trying desperately to get free. She cursed at him, spat at his face and called him every name under the sun.

But he just held her there, in his powerful arms. She thrashed and cried at him until she ran out of stamina, slumping in his grasp with loud sobs and tears.

"Why? Why did you have me do that?" She spoke quietly, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Because, there was no one else I trusted to do so."

She sobbed even more when he said that. His grasp letting her go as she wrapped her arms against his chest, pressing his face into the flesh above his heart.

His hand came up, lightly stroking her hair in a comforting manner. "Don't worry, my darling. What's done is done, there is no use fretting over it.

She just cried, and buried her head into his chest.

(@)

"You have done well Amber, exceedingly well."

Brutus ran his hand through the mountain of wealth that Amber had accrued, shining coins and massive jewels falling to the floor between his armored hand.

"Thank you, my master." Amber said, giving a small bow. "What is there to do next?"

Brutus hummed, bringing his hand to his helmeted chin. "You have done well, and you shall receive a reward for your efforts thus far, but my next task will prove far easier, albeit just as important."

Amber bowed again. "Say the word, and I will obey, my Lord."

"You will go out and purchase materials, your praetorians will move these materials to a specified place, if you require more manpower, do not hesitate to contact me."

"As you command."

Brutus turned to leave, walking through the splintered doors and into the hallway, but before he crossed into the darkness, he turned to regard her.

"Oh, and Amber?"

"Yes my Lord?"

"There is one other thing which I need you to handle.."

(@)

Brutus emerged back within his room, reality stitching itself shut behind him. He fell to his bed with a groan, flopping unceremoniously onto its sheets. The stress of laying out so many plans as well as the events of the day leaving him drained. He sighed as he thought of the next phase of his plan, and all the successes and failures of his many experiments.

His praetorians had turned out wonderfully, but lacked a certain quality that flesh and blood soldiers had, they followed orders to the letter, yes, but that was the very problem, they followed orders to the letter, they didn't improvise, or strategize beyond their pre-built tactics.

They had no emotion, no soul, and he didn't k ow how to give a machine a soul.

Brutus cast aside his tangent of thought, opting instead to occupy his attention with the rather _jiggly_ movements of the newest person who entered his room.

"Brutus..." Bun-Bun began shyly. "Can I sleep in here? I had a nightmare."

Brutus just let his head fall back to the pillow. Her attitude had reverted straight back to normal after the fight, which baffled him to no end, but he nodded and waved her in.

"Yes, but undress me woman, I am too tired to do so."

He waved an armored fist in the air to emphasize his point.

As she removed his armor, turning away to place the pieces on a nearby table, Brutus couldn't help but notice how much her pajamas, pink with little sleeping bunnies on them, hugged her wide hips, and just how much she _moved_ with every step.

"Bun-Bun, did I ever tell you that you have a great ass?"

She turned around, shocked at his words, hell, he was shocked at them too! She blushed and giggled, a finger coming up to play with her hair.

"W-well, I didn't know you liked my butt so much."

Brutus snorted. "Well, I always did like art."

Brutus rolled onto his now bare back, hands crossed behind his head.

"Climb in bed, Bun-Bun. I'm tired and I want to go to sleep."

When she climbed over him, he couln't help but grab one of her fleshy cheeks.

 ** _A/N_**

 ** _Sorry for such a short chapter, a little bit of character development going on here._**


	18. Bathtubs and Bribery

Bun-Bun woke up as she usually did, alone. She lazily reached out, hand searching the bed for the warmth that was there throughout the night, sighing when she found only sheets.

He did this often, Brutus, always up early, or at least before her, and always out doing something, whether that was training, reading, researching, or whatever. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, rolling out of bed with sluggish movements, before making her way to the bathroom with a gait befitting a corpse. She was not a morning person.

She went through her routine, showering, hygiene, brushing her hair, combing her ears, the works. She was in the middle of brushing her teeth, looking more like a zombie with a toothpick, when a thought popped into her head.

What exactly was Brutus doing?

There was no class, the school canceling after yesterday's massacre, and Brutus, by his own admission, was exhausted. So where could he be?

She finished in the bathroom, and after getting dressed, exited into the hall, ready to face the bustle of people and the noise of teenagers.

She braced herself for the wall of noise, stepping out with her ears pinned down. Only no noise came, all was silent. There was no one else in the hall. She looked down both ends, greeted only by carpet and numbered doors.

"Where is everybody?"

She began walking towards the cafeteria, having to pass by several of the combat rooms. As she passed by the one where she and Brutus shared a class in, she heard hushed voices come from within. She stepped closer, placing her ears gingerly against the door, she could definitely hear voices, but also the clatter of machinery as well.

She stepped inside, greeted by the pressed in bodies of every student in the wing. She weaved and shoved her way to the front, earning more than a few shouts of annoyance. She pushed her way to the front, eager to find out what everyone was so captivated by. When she reached the ringside seats, she saw her boyfriend's sister, Yang, standing wide-eyed and staring into the arena.

And she could very well see why.

Brutus was down there.

Clad only in bracers, boots and armored trousers, his body shining with sweat running down every ridge of his abs and across every hill of his insanely muscular arms and shoulders, he wove a deadly dance in the arena.

Battle droids, ranging from simple practice bots to high-tech Atlesian military knights filled the combat floor. Flashes of blades and guns creating a cacophony of lights and sound. Huge, heavy mechs swung blades as tall as she was, small angular flyers dove and fired in aura-breaking strafing runs. Gun-bots, grinding around on motorized tracks, pumped high-caliber stun-rounds into the fray. Brutus was outnumbered easily by fifty to one, and in such a tight space, Bun-Bun wasn't even sure most _huntsmen_ could have survived the onslaught.

Yet Brutus reigned supreme.

He smashed his way into thick groups of knights, elbows flying into face-panels, legs sweeping mechanical feet from the floor. His sword flashed in an arc, crashing into the enemies gathered around him. His free hand shot out, crushing the head of one knight, and flinging the broken mech into the crowd around him. He was a storm, raging with a cold, silent fury. His fist clobbered heads from their shoulders, his kicks crushed in chestplates, his sword split bodies.

He spun, felling enemies in great land-slides of blinding motion, carving beautiful arcs of death and doom. He tore heads from bodies, limbs out of their sockets with as much effort as she might take apart a stick of cheese.

He was a whirlwind, dropping enemies like wheat before a scythe. His sword lashed out in a quick stab, a gun-bot falling at his feet, his hand ripped into a droid, holding it up as a shield, even while using it to brutalize his foes.

Before she knew it, the battle, no, the slaughter was over. Brutus stood in the middle, breath running lightly, oil and splinters of metal mixing with the sweat on his his skin.

He was done, and when the buzzer sounded, signaling the end of a match quicker than any it had seen since its installation, he walked out. No bragging, no stupid catch-phrase, nothing.

"Wow." Yang whispered from beside her. "And I thought I was good."

(@)

Brutus sighed, the hot water running down his arms and shoulders carried away the stench of training and left behind only the slight burn of well-used muscles, advanced filters in the bathtub sorting out the oil and metal from the water, before cycling it through heaters and back into the bathtub.

It had been too long since he had last had a good bath, and even longer since he had had a good fight, having been relying on the aether far too much. PerhPerhaps he should invest more of his time training? The wonderful feeling of adrenaline pumping through his body being an almost brand-new concept, instead of an old, welcoming friend.

He squeezed some body wash onto his hand, before lathering up his body, his mind pondering the idea of re-assessing his schedule. He had just finished his upper body and was beginning on his lower half when he heard the door to the bathroom shut. He pretended not to notice when he heard clothes shuffling and zippers being unzipped.

He even pretended to not notice when Bun-Bun pulled the curtain back and stepped in the bath with him.

She was of course, naked. Her lovely figure eliciting a _stiff_ reaction from him, but little else, if he was to be honest, he would enjoy her company.

Plus there's always this one itchy spot on his back he can never reach.

"Brutus, sweetie." Bun-Bun began, idly lathering her body with soap as she spoke. "You did amazing today."

He knew he had done well, those were the kind of fights he trained for as a child, pressed in from all sides, enemies all around. He had once been told that he would make an excellent shock-trooper by a military- recruiter visiting patch.

"That was the kind of fight I trained for, Buns. It would be quite a blow to my pride if I wasn't good at them."

She arched her back, her hands beginning to wash her remarkable _assets_ , which Brutus happily watched.

"You were more than good." She said, moaning a little as her hands washed and massaged her peaks. "You were awesome! I've never seen someone use moves like that!"

Brutus hummed, rolling a shoulder forward so he could run the washcloth over his shoulder blade. "Well, when I was younger, I trained with my fists and body in grapples, unlike my sister who studied boxing. She punches grimm to death, I break them to death."

Bun-Bun signaled for the washcloth, to which Brutus handed it to her, enjoying himself as he watched her run it over body.

 _'I have to admit.'_ Brutus thought as he watched her bathe herself. _'She's definitely good for stress.'_

"So..." Bun-Bun started, sinking lower into the tub to run her feet over his own legs, her face splitting into a grin when she moved a little bit further up. "What do you think about going to town this weekend?"

Brutus raised his eyebrows. "After what happened yesterday? Are you really ready to take a bull-head into the city?"

Her smile fell, and she sank deeper into the water. "Did you have to bring that up? You know I feel horrible about it."

Brutus leaned forward, taking her hands into his own under the water, rubbing his thumbs gently over his knuckles. "Listen, Buns, I know you're upset, and I know why, but you can't feel bad forever."

She sighed, her own hands returning the grip. "Yeah, I know. But the wound is still fresh, okay? I'm not like you, who is more emotionally akin to a rock than a person."

Brutus snorted at that, it was a rock that started this whole thing.

"But I want to move on, life is full of what ifs and bad things, but there's no use in dwelling on them, what's done is done, and it can't be changed."

He smiled, an event so rare it might as well have signaled the apocalypse. "You know, my sweet. I couldn't have said that better myself."

He leaned forward to kiss her, wrapping her body up in his huge arms, bringing her back with him as he leaned back against the tub. She purred as their lips met, their mouths locked in a passionate battle of wills. She giggled when she sat in his lap, pressing her rump against him.

"So, you studied grapples right?" She whispered sultrily in his ear.

Brutus hummed his response, too occupied with her neck and chest to formulate a vocal answer.

"Why don't you show me a few?"

(@)

"Good afternoon, my name is Amber."

The maiden stood opposite of a man dressed in a tight pressed suit, nearing the mark of the Schnee Dust Company.

Amber slid forward a sheet of paper.

"And I represent a very rich man."

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _Lol, canoodling in a bathtub. Double Lol, backroom dealings._**


	19. Slavers can't be haters

Litla grimaced as she raised her spoon from her bowl, thick, green slime falling off in thick drops.

She sighed, pinching her nose and sticking the spoon in her mouth. She shivered, the horrible concoction tasting like a zombie shit in a puddle and served it to people.

"Arhus...I don't want to eat this." She said, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "I want to leave..I want to eat real food and sleep in a real bed. I just want...something more."

She heard a grunt, her best friend's main method of communication, though it did nothing to console her, merely concrete the horrible situation they were in.

Life in the dust mines was not very pretty.

Litla had been here since she was a little girl, her parents had died in the mines and because the company took a loss from their death, she was snatched up as company property. She hated that she was thought of as a thing and not a person, but the situation she was in left no way out. Her parents had been stuck with a forty year contract, and died into their fifth year, leaving her with thirty-five years of hard labor.

Almost sounded like a prison sentence.

Arhus was different though, he was a human, but where she lost her parents, he lost his people. Arhus was part of a tribe, called some name she could never pronounce right, they had been attempted to raid the mines, but once the gates shut behind them, their fate had been sealed.

Litla shut her eyes, remembering how the gun-shots and shouts had sounded like the sky was crashing in on them that day. She ground her sharp teeth together, hoping the grating noise will drown out the memory.

"I'm sorry sir, the workers just began their lunch, I'm afraid you won't be able to see them for another ten minutes."

 **"If you step in my way again, I'll hang you by your feet and let the nevermore's pick you clean."**

Litla froze, as did Arhus, as did everyone else. She had hears the foreman, the big-bellied bastard, but the second voice was new, someone they had never heard before.

Was he here to free them?

She crushed the thought before it could surface, people came in all the time, often for nefarious purposes. She shuffled behind Arhus' back, trying her best to be obscured from view. Sometimes, the foreman would let people in, and the whole of the worker's barracks would become a den of rape and pain. She hadn't been gotten yet, thanks to Arhus, but one of the other girls had been caught.

They took turns on her for the whole day, leaving no part of her untouched, they raped her in the middle of the barracks, in full view of everyone. Litla remembered how the girl had looked afterwards, how she couldn't move, how she just laid there, puking up stuff she didn't want to swallow.

That girl took her life, swallowed a fire-dust crystal.

Wasn't much left to bury.

"S-sir, please, if you will just be patient, I wi-"

The foreman's protests died out, and Litla saw who turned the corner.

He was tall, very tall. Armored in brass and stone and other metals she couldn't identify.

But she could Identify the sword on his hip, and the guns in his guards hands.

 **"Ah, here we are."** The armored giant stestepped inside the barracks, his helmet's gaze sweeping over them, judging them. **"These workers are not in the condition you said."**

His gaze didn't stop sweeping, and his body showed no hint of anger, but his voice had gained an angry edge to it.

"Y-yes, well, you see. I know that my...sales representative had stated that they were in a workable condition."

 **"He said they were healthy and able, take a look around, do any of these workers look like that?"** The foreman wiped his brow, sweating like a pig under the harsh tone of the armored man. "I assure you sir, they can fulfill any kind of work you can throw at them."

 **"You there."** The armored man pointed towards a sickly worker, before turning around, and taking the gun from his guard. He held out the boxy weapon with one arm. " **Take this weapon."** "Sir! There is no need for such extreme action-!"

The newcomer turned his head to glare at the foreman. **"Be silent!** He barked.

He turned back to the worker. **"Go on, take the weapon."**

The worker struggled to stand, his frail, skeletonized legs struggling to keep his starving frame upright. He reached out, one hand shakily grasping the butt of the rifle.

Before promptly dropping it to the ground.

 **"You see? If they cannot hold a gun, how will they be able to work?"** The guard he took the rifle from stooped down, picking up his rifle and helping the worker to his feet.

The armored newcomer took great interest in that for some reason.

"Well, I suppose that I won't sell you that one."

The foreman's eyes narrowed, a hateful glare being directed to the old worker. Litla flinched, gaining such attention was a death sentence down here.

 **"Nonsense."** The armored man waved his hand dismissively. **"I'll buy them all."**

The foreman ceased his glaring, clapping his fat and sweaty hands together. The prospect of money forcing his smile to the surface.

"Excellent! I'll prepare the paperwork! Now, as we've discussed the price is appro-"

 **"Half. The price is half."**

 _THAT_ blew the wind out of his sails, the foremans eyes bulging out of his skull.

"H-half!? I'm trying to run a business here! Who do you think I am?!"

The armored man turned, pointing an accusing finger at his dealer. **"You are a liar and a cheat. Half price, along with one of your airships."**

The foremans face went red, eyes threatening to pop as his blood pressure spiked. "One of my- Sir! I am telling you that I cannot accept these terms!"

 **"Fine then, half price along with one airship, or I'll kill you and every soul here."**

"Look, there's no need to get violent!"

 **"You let a wolfpack into your sheep's pen. Do you really think this will be resolved without bloodshed?"**

The foreman glanced around nervously, his eyes frantically moving about, searching for some way out of this mess.

 **"I'm waiting on an answer. The money or your life. Choose one."**

The foreman deflated, defeated. He let out a groan as he begrudgingly accepted the situation.

"The money, sir."

 **"A pity, I was quite looking forward to killing you."**

(@)

Litla shuffled forward, tears falling down her face. She was being bought all over again, taken somewhere against her will. She felt strong hands grip her shoulders causing her to flinch, the memory of what happened to the other girl rising to the surface. She relaxed when she heard a grunt from behind her, realizing it was just Arhus.

The line moved forward again, hundreds of faunas disappearing into the bowels of an airship. The whole line went past some woman in a dress and a mask. Litla felt a pang of jealousy when she looked upon the womans clothes, having always wanted a dress and to be treated like a princess. She felt herself glare at the woman, inwardly ranting about the unfairness of life, and how some people who never knew hardship got the best deals.

She glanced over to the side, her eyes landing on the armored man and the foreman, where the newcomer, her new owner, had just finished signing the papers for the whole camps purchase.

She watched as he set down the pen, both men standing up, and watched as the foreman stuck out one hand, a smile on his face. She watched her new owner stick out his arm as well.

She watched it land on the foreman's scalp, and twist his head all the way around.

She felt like she should have felt something when his body hit the ground, and her owners guards open fire into the rest of the camp's guards.

But she didn't.

(@)

The hold of the airship was tightly packed, and stank of sweat and cramped bodies. Litla was pushed further into Arhus's chest, the throng of bodies shifting as the airship hit turbulence, and rang with murmers as the dull thump of the point defense guns rang down through the hull.

They had been in the ship for hours, water had been passed out by the armored guards, who did so with a silence that un-nerved her.

The air became lighter, and a pressure in her ears had become apparent. Litla knew what that had meant, having felt the same pressure when she had descended into the mine.

They were landing.

"My fellow people." A voice cried out from above. Litla saw that was the woman in the dress from earlier.

"By the grace of our Lord."

The ship lurched as it landed, groaning as the frame took the weight. Light shone through a crack as the loading bay doors split open.

"He has provided not only freedom."

Litla's eyes teared up, the beauty of what lay before her too much for her emotions to handle.

"But also a home."

A sprawling landscape of buildings, nestled in the shadow of a mountain. Fat stone buildings sat alongside cobblestone streets, huge flowing rivers wove their way down huge aqueducts. Fountains sprinkled clear, clean water into the air.

A huge wall, still under construction by the looks of the massive scaffolding that ran along its face, ensured that the grimm would stay out.

However, everything was overshadowed by the huge castle that sat upon the face of the mountain, carved into the stone itself.

"This, my friends, is your new home. My Lord, _our_ Lord has given it to you, and only asks that you swear your loyalty to him."

Litla cried, her hands coming up to her face as she wept for the sheer joy of having a home.

She didn't know who her new Lord was, but he was definitely worth her loyalty.

(@)

Litla explored her new house, the squat, two story home was cold and un-lived in, and the only furniture was a bed in the upstairs master bedroom and a chair in the corner of the main room. Although It did have a fully stocked kitchen, complete with a stove and a refrigerator, running water and plumbing and electric lights, so it beat anything she had back at the camp by a long-shot.

There was a catch though.

Her new lord, Brutus as he had introduced himself, had decreed that every male above the age of fifteen had to serve in the new legion for two years, so as to protect their home, and to ingrain the ability to defend themselves into their lives.

He had also stated, that after a one-year period, so that any woman who was pregnant would give birth, any woman above the age of sixteen who was not pregnant or otherwise medically indisposed would also be required to serve in the legion.

Litla had wondered why he had not put an age limit to the new law, but she quickly remembered that not a whole lot of faunus reached their twilight years.

Still, she missed Arhus, he himself being seventeen had marched himself straight to the recruiting office, manned by more of those armed guards, who were apparently called Praetorians, and had done his newfound duty.

Litla idly wondered, as she stripped herself of her rags to step in the first shower of her life, just who was going to train the new Legion.

(@)

"You want me to what now?"

"You heard me, I'm willing to pay you for three years work, housing and food comped of course."

"I understand that bit, but you want me to train you an army?"

Wilhelm Kaizer, Father of two, happily married and mildly-known mercenary was completely dumbfounded.

"L-Look, I'm not even the best.."

"I didn't come to you because you were the best, I came to you because you were discreet."

"Your asking me to leave my family for three years."

"Nonsense, take them with."

Wilhelm was at a loss for words, he was so sure that when work began drying up, that he would have to retire and find some other job, when out of the blue, here comes a man saying he'll pay for three years work.

"Well, Mr. Kaizer? Do we have a deal."

As they clasped hands, Wilhelm was sure he had just done something wonderful.

"Yes, Mr. Rose, we do, and don't worry, I won't tell a soul."

"Glad to hear it, because if you do, I'll have my Praetorians skin you alive and drown you in salt."

 **A/N:** **Done, all of you reading this, go check out Broken Branches on my pal BluePanedGasMask's profile, its really good.**


	20. Falsehoods and Tyrants

Bun-Bun pulled the needle towards herself again, trailing dust infused cloth and binding it into beautiful patterns, humming to herself all the while. She lived to sew, the activity reminding her of her grandmother and how they used to sew together. Sewing eased her mind and relaxed her body, and helped keep away troublesome thoughts. She smiled as she lifted the black and white cloth in front if her, admiring her handiwork.

The piece was far from finished, she still had so much to do, but it looked excellent so far, Brutus would love it.

She frowned as she thought about him, the big man on her bad side for once. He had been gone for several days now, and only stopped by to pick up that big book of his, almost never saying a word, just coming out of the bathroom, grabbing what he wanted, before going back in and promptly disappearing.

She swore there was a secret door or something in there.

She sighed, knowing that Brutus meant no offense with his behavior, just that he was very focused on whatever he was doing, and only being concerned with that. She knew that whatever he did while he was away was very important, but sometimes she felt that his work meant more to him than she did.

The thought sent a chill up her spine.

She peeked over at the clock on the wall, the time reading well past eight. She let out a heavy sigh. They were supposed to be on a date tonight, going out to a nice dinner, taking wonderful moonlit walks together, laughing at cheesy jokes, just spending time with eachother.

Instead, here she was, sitting in a chair, sewing, and grumbling about all she missed out on.

She realized with a little bit of slight panic that she had become her grandma.

 _'Oh well.'_ She thought. _'I'm sure whatever he's doing, it's important.'_

(@)

"What do you think Amber, red or blue?"

Brutus gestured to his advisor, hand gesticulating wildly between the two swathes of cloth.

"Personally, I think that the red is much too aggressive, although the blue is lacking in aggression entirely."

The two sat in stone chairs, discussing between themselves the minor and major intricacies of the new city they had built. They had debated the first item that came up on the list of things to decide, that being the merits of steel silverware versus the merits of actual silver.

Now, they had come to a very important detail.

The color of the castle's drapes.

"I agree, but the blue gives off such a nice, peaceful feel, like I'm a benevolent ruler."

Amber nodded, the blue did make her feel at peace.

"It does feel nice, my Lord." Amber said with a nod of her head. "Shall it be the blue then?"

Brutus hummed, chin cupped in his hand, deep in thought. "Maybe, though I do wonder, does it make me seem to benevolent?" He asked after awhile.

"My Lord? I don't understand." She said, more than a little confused. How could one be too benevolent?

"Does it make me seem that while I want peace, I'll sacrifice anything and everything to maintain it?"

Amber raised a brow. Was peace not a goal worth any price? "Isn't peace more valuable than anything?"

"In a way, it is. War, with its unchanging station of being the opposite to peace, is devastating to one country, or both if executed poorly."

"So peace is the ultimate goal then? War is but an unfortunate lapse in it, right?"

Brutus hummed, a sign that he was deep in thought. "Perhaps." He said after awhile. "Perhaps not."

This time, it was Amber who hummed. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"I mean, what is the point of peace if you have sacrificed everything to get it?"

"I...still don't understand."

Brutus moved his hands in the air, drawing shapes in the air, that to her amazement, stayed in the air, burning with a bright flame.

"Imagine this, there are seven men in a room. Three of them want to kill the other four, the reason why is not important."

The fire moved, forming intricate humanoid shapes that moved and twisted in fluid patterns. Three of them burned with a baleful red, while the other four became enmeshed with a depressing blue.

"The three men." Brutus continued. "Decide to attack one of the others, but are quickly repulsed by their stronger numbers."

The burning shapes moved again, a brawl that seemed more akin to art than fighting began, but was quickly resolved by the blue's greater numbers.

"Peace has been maintained, only a small skirmish being the product of it."

Brutus gestured again, the fires moving rapidly with each stroke of his hand.

"Later, the reds try to attack once again, but the blues once again hold them off, but one is wounded and killed."

Amber frowned as she watched the figures in the air battle once more, the blues emerging victorious, but now down to three when one vanishes.

"Now they have lost their advantage, the playing field is now even. Twice, they have been attacked, twice they have won, twice now they have ignored the problem and failed to pursue it. Soon the cost of maintaining this 'Peace' will become too great if something is not done."

Amber cocked her head. "The peace is still maintained though, there isn't a war."

Brutus chuckled, nodding towards the figures. "There's a war alright, but only one side realizes it."

Amber was still confused, how did all this tie into being too nice of a ruler? This was talk of war, and ignorance, not law and order.

"How does any of this." Amber waved her hand at the fiery figures. "Fit into being a ruler?"

"The blues, my dear friend, have fallen into a way of thinking that is detrimental and destructive. They believe that war should be avoided no matter the cost, even if that cost is themselves. They believe that as long as they can ignore the hounds tearing at their walls, there is no war."

The blues danced and played, while the reds gathered arms and armor, sharpened swords and spears and made battle plans.

"But why?" Amber asked. "Why do the blues not eliminate the reds entirely?"

"Because they are evenly matched, going to war with the reds would either kill all the blues or kill all the reds, both outcomes are equally hated. The blues continue to laugh and play and dance, and the reds continue to scheme, and build up their force."

"But they have lost a blue already, why did they not pursue when they were first attacked?"

"They had the greater numbers, and believed that their defense would hold true, even when it didn't."

Amber was still confused, none of this made sense!

"I still don't understand, their defense did hold."

"For a time yes, but they did not pursue, but a defensive war cannot be won, and no defense lasts forever. They were far too kind and it cost them dearly."

"Now what happens?"

The red figures moved in and became embattled with the blues. The fight lasted a short while, the blues had lost the advantage of numbers, and had not advanced or built up weaponry or learned about their enemy.

"The inevitable." Said Brutus.

The reds emerged victorious, killing all of the blues.

"I-I don't understand." Amber stammered out.

"It is good to be benevolent, a soft hand guides the easiest after all, but sometimes, that soft hand must turn into an iron fist. The blues should have pushed the attack and annihilated the reds, or have devastated them thoroughly enough so that they would not try to fight again."

Amber's head swooned, Brutus's way of thinking was violent and brutal, but she had to admit, it made sense.

Destroy your enemy before your enemy destroys you. Be prepared for war if you want to maintain peace.

Brutal and violent, a far-cry from Ozpin's way of thinking, he was always content to sit in Vale and let the grimm have the run of the world outside, always had to make sure the people didn't think of the grimm too much.

"Wait a minute." Amber said slowly, before turning on Brutus in a flash. "You were talking about the kingdoms."

"Yes. I was." Brutus said, leaning back in his throne. "The kingdoms disgust me, and it was them that I based my example on."

"But...The kingdoms have been the bastions of humanity and the faunas for ages." Amber stated, shaking her head in confusion. "Why do you hate the kingdoms?"

"Because the Kingdoms have been humanity's only bastions for ages."

Amber stood up in a flurry of movement, her voice straining as she tried not to yell. "The Kingdoms keep humanity safe!"

"That is true, no Kingdom has been destroyed in centuries, but they have not expanded either."

Amber deflated, the wind blown out of her sails. "What?" She asked dumbly.

"The people of the Kingdom's are kept unaware of the grimm, kept unaware of the war, only Atlas has a standing military, no other Kingdom does. There is a war going on, and the Kingdoms have chosen to ignore it."

"But the hunters." Amber said weakly. "They keep the grimm at bay."

"Exactly, they only keep the grimm at bay, their numbers are far too few to wage any form of meaningful offense, they can defend, but not attack."

"And a defensive war..." Amber began.

"Cannot be won. There should be a massive military in every kingdom, birth rates should be encouraged to climb higher, mankind should be slammed onto the warpath."

"So when you ordered that all men had to serve in the military..."

Brutus crossed his arms in front of him, leaning back even further into his throne.

"I was setting things right, as they should be. We'll need to start cranking out a military where each individual soldier is as strong as a hunter, we have the time, and the resources."

"An army of that quality will take some time." Amber said as she sat back down.

"It will, but right now, time is in abundance."

They sat in silence for awhile, reflecting on the conversation they both had. Amber was slightly worried about the future. An army of huntsmen was hard to come by, the training would be intense, and they had no facilities for training hunters. Amber sighed, the weight of the reality that was just dumped on her shoulders was heavy indeed. She continued to be quiet, deciding that the breeze that flowed through the throne room was much more pleasant than dreary thoughts of war.

Finally, it was Brutus who broke the silence.

"Mankind, in all its forms, has been without a leader without strength for too long."

A portal opened up beside Brutus, a giant spear falling into his hands.

"I will lead my people, whether with a guiding and just hand..."

Brutus raised the spear, before promptly striking it against the floor.

The sound reverberated throughout the palace, flowing like water into the city below before crashing like a bell into the sky, signalling that which is to come.

"Or a Rod of Iron."

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _Dialogue, I suck at you._**


	21. Rare in deed

The Rod of Iron was more than a spear, it was more than a weapon. Brutus could feel the power emanating from it, like waves of energy. Even now, held loosely in his hand, it's power threatened to escape, was actively trying to escape, to be let free its wreak its havoc on the world. He could hear the voices that came from within, whispers of hatred and pleads of mercy, offering power in exchange for freedom.

But he was Brutus Rose, and power was his.

The voices that came from within the Rod were familiar, if ever so slightly. The girls that survived the Bull-head crash, the voices were theirs. They begged him to release them from their prison in the Aether, but he would not, they were far too useful to his plans.

Their despair and hatred fueled the Rod's powers, gave it strength, fed it energy. Yes, the Rod had become so much more than a simple spear or lexicon. It had become far more than a simple tool. A tool of vast importance in the darkness to come, even if it's abilities and purpose were unknown.

A tool with no purpose however, was useless.

The Rod rose and fell, a dull ring sounding as a result. "Adon, bring me one of the captives. I desire to learn."

Within moments, reality tore and a girl was pushed through, landing in a heap of tears. She sobbed, trying to see through blinded eyes. Brutus sighed when he saw that she could not see, it would seem that Adon and Noda were being a bit too rough with his...guests.

"You there." Brutus bellowed, making to stand. "You serve me now, and you serve a purpose most grand."

His booming steps echoed throughout the palace, even blind, the girl could feel his presence in her mind, like a dark storm raging against the gates of her brain, battering against the doors.

She shuddered, if he was this powerful in an idle state, then how powerful could he be?

Brutus closed in on her, circling her, studying her. He placed the Rod of Iron before her, its body radiating waves of power so intense they warped realspace, blurred the light around it.

"Grab the Rod." Brutus said simply.

For a time, she said nothing, merely stared blankly at him, but she rose to her knees, and spat on his helmet.

"No!" She cried, practically shrieking. "I won't help you!"

Brutus stared at her, wiping the spit off his visor. He could feel his anger begin to rise with the rhythm of the marching drums outside. He quickly quelled his agitation, cautious of the consequences should he let loose.

"So.." He breathed, hissing the words from between clenched teeth. "It is defiance then?"

She didn't answer, glaring at him as pointedly as she could muster. She stood, hand swinging through the air in a weak slap.

Her attack passed through air, Brutus having disappeared from reality in a flash of light. The girl paused, glancing around the empty palace.

Had she done it? Was her captor no more than a figment of her imagination? She began to laugh, crying out victory and proclaiming how she had won. She pumped her fist up in the air. Laughing and screaming for all she was worth.

Before promptly exploding.

Gore and viscera painted the walls and ceiling, an impressive feat given their size. Blood oozed from the roof, mixing with fat shards of bone and pulped guts.

In the epicenter of the blast stood Brutus, covered head to toe in his former captive. Idly, he reached up and flicked away an eyeball that had come to rest on his pauldron.

"I must say." Brutus sighed as he tried to clear his visor of gore. "Too messy."

Well, he couldn't really blame anyone but himself, exiting the aether inside a person was bound to have some results.

"Praetorians!" Brutus called. "Clean up this mess."

And so it was, Brutus learned a small tidbit of information in trade for a young womans life.

A fine trade, he thought.

(@)

Brutus hummed, head resting on a fist, eyes peering into the aether. His shade drifted aimlessly around, never coming to a rest in any one place for very long. He needed something, he needed information. He was no fool, and the snake-woman had not been so forthcoming with information this time around. He sighed as he sank lower into his throne. This time around, he would have to gather info the old fashioned way.

He opened a tear, and stepped through.

(@)

Ozpin contemplated the previous days, the maiden going rogue, two top secret security breaches, and that whole fiasco at signal left a sour taste in his mouth. This was not the queen's work, no, too fast, too bold.

There was someone new, someone different. Ozpin once again poured over the data from the crash, only two survivors, one Verde Blue and another Brutus Rose.

The name of the young man sounded familiar, other than the fact he was a Rose. Ozpin scanned the documents on his desk, before finally settling on one and pulling it out from a pile. Here it was, Brutus Rose, only son Tai-Yang Xiao Long and Summer Rose. Ozpin went over the raw dat, taking in some small details, height, weight, weapon. Everything checked out. Besides a bloody _outstanding_ combat record, Brutus was still remarkable, but not overly exemplary. He was a good student, little more.

Ozpin turned the page over, getting to the picture of the lad. Short buzzed hair, some rather pronounced canines, and his eye-.

Oh..His eyes.

Murky and clouded, yet focused with so much energy that Ozpin actually felt a little sick to his stomach just looking at them. His eyes shone with knowledge, and with hunger. The mark of a great man, but also the eyes of a tyrant. Ozpin knew those eyes, he had seen them once, and only once before. If his eyes were telling the truth, then Brutus had the potential to be far more powerful than any hunter. In truth, Ozpin knew very little about these mysterious people, only ever encountering one other before.

They were a rare people with a very sensitive connection to the human soul, a very powerful connection.

They were bound to an aspect of the human soul, becoming avatars of that particular part of humanity.

But his knowledge ended there, and if Brutus was one of the them, then he would be a very valuable asset.

"Glynda!" He called out hurriedly. "Call Qrow, we need his...skills."

 **A/N:**

 **I am too sore my dudes.**


	22. To break our bonds

Brutus sat within the aether, drifting aimlessly and without direction. Energy coiled around him, snarling and hissing like an animal, before flowing gently like a lazy river. Brutus meditated, his mind concentrated and focused as he thought upon the Aether and all he learned from it. The ability to conjure aetheric flames that did not burn, to mold substance through sheer force of will, to imbue things with his own will, these were all grand and powerful things. He could go anywhere whenever he wanted, morph and forge whatever he wanted, he had built a city and freed many simply because he had the power to do so.

He was powerful, and as far as he could see, one of the top contenders on the food-chain.

He was Brutus Rose, no matter what his true name might be. He was brother to Yang and Ruby, son of Summer and Tai-Yang, and first to discover the aether.

The only to inhabit the aether.

A paltry notion with more than a modicum of lies to it. Brutus knew he was not alone.

He had felt it.

Earlier, during his ghosting and hunting for information, he felt...something akin to a pull, like an instinct, to go...somewhere, or telling him where not to go.

Brutus could still feel the pull of the aether, like a distant voice, whispering in his ear and tugging at the back of his mind with spindly, smoky talons. He recognized the call for what it was, a question, posed through the ever shifting tides of the immaterial. It danced and sang in a thousand different ways across a thousand different minds and upon a thousand different souls, coiling its lithe body in reality-defying movements of such inhuman intricacy, that it was in itself an answer, both wrong and right.

'Am I alone?'

A question of such simplicity, yet bearing such an intricate web of consequences.

Brutus glanced back in the direction of the question, an enigma within itself, and proposed his own answer, sending shockwaves back.

'We are together.'

The answer was simple, but like its progenitor, it too bore a cavalcade of instances that bound it both as an answer and a lie.

Such was the Aether, to be both truth and un-truth, to exist yet be without existence, to have substance without form.

Another pulse was sent his direction.

'Are we two?'

'We are.'

'Then we are alone.'

The connection cut off, any more pulses sent through yielded no more returns, only a cold silence.

Brutus sighed, opening his eyes with a weariness unbecoming of himself. That pulse had taken more out of him than he thought, but a moment ago, he was alert and full of energy, now he felt as if death itself was knocking on his door. Idly, he noted that he had drifted near his destination.

He knew what he was about to do would mark him forever, and consign unto him a legacy of fear and bloodshed.

But he had to do what must be done.

"This will take either great patience." He thought out loud to himself. "Or great resolve."

(@)

The village was quiet, the buildings were empty. Places that were once filled with joy and people were desiccated husks of themselves. The whole village was filled with a deathly, cold silence.

"Tell me what I want to know, and the child lives."

"Please, we don't know! We don't know!"

Brutus stood on one leg, his other raised over a crying girl. Brutus knew that if he brought his foot down, it would shatter and pulp everything in her body. People were gathered within its square, little more than the space all the ramshackle buildings faced. The inhabitants of this village were long dead, having lost the fight against the bandits that now occupied their homes, and apparently, were breeding in them.

"I'll ask again, who has been financing you?"

"Please! I don't know! Just let my little girl go!"

Brutus narrowed his eyes underneath his helmet, he had never truly intended to kill the child, she was around the age where her memories hadn't formed yet, but she would be soon. She had her uses, he surmised, but she and any other children below five years old would be a long-term investment, one that might take far too long to pay off.

But alas, Brutus hated to waste a good oppurtunity.

"Very well, the child will live." Brutus stepped back, his leg no longer hovering over the toddler. "You however, are useless." Brutus waved his hand through the air, opening a portal, with no small amount of concentration, inside the mans neck, transporting his flesh into the aether and away from his body, effectively severing it. The man's head tumbled off of his shoulders and rolled away.

"You there, who is financing you-"

Brutus was cut short when he felt something, not unlike his own aetheric portals, scream open behind him.

Brutus whirled, vambrace already flying up to protect his throat, he felt the impact before he saw the sword, blood red and curved. Brutus hopped backwards, armored servos whirring as they effortlessly carried his weight. He smacked away another stab with the back of his hand, before retaliating with a strong kick. He felt his boot connect, and heard a heavy grunt. He backed away, finally able to size up and identify his opponent.

Her hair was dark. Her clothes, robes with crimson pieces of segmented armor adorning her forearms. On her face, she wore a mask, almost looking like a grimm, its purpose more for intimidation than hiding her identity.

Brutus chuckled, drawing his sword and circling her. "A flea trying to bite a lion...Comical."

He glanced to her weapon, chuckling when he saw it.

Her sword was curved, its point sloping gently to its tip. Brutus held the advantage here, as curves swords, unparalleled when cutting exposed flesh, fell short when faced with an armored opponent.

"These people are mine. Why are you attacking them?"

"Oh?" Brutus continued to circle her, his eyes not once leaving her, admittedly attractive body. "Well...Maybe because I wanted some information, or maybe I felt like killing something."

She snarled, her audible growl leaking from her mask. "Do you know who I am?"

"I can't say that I do, do you know who I am?"

"Can't say that I do."

Brutus swept his arms wide, doing a little bow. "I am Brutus. "

She stopped circling for a second, her shoulders sagging for the briefest of moments. Brutus ignored it, her apparent weakness was irrelevant to him. He would crush her, as he had so many others.

"It's not too smart to give someone like me your real name." She said.

"It is not my true name, but it will suffice."

"Well...Enough talk!"

She charged in, her blade sweeping for the exposed bit where his fauld and breastplate met. Brutus swept his arm down, catching the blade on his forearm, before sweeping his own sword in a diagonal flash. She weaved away at the last second, her movement blending into a stab aimed for his neck. Brutus leaned out of the way, his fist flying up to catch her in the chin. She stumbled back, her sword raising in a desperate guard that saved her life when his weapon clashed against hers. Brutus pressed the attack, leaning into the sword, his hand came up, ripped off her mask before slamming it into her face.

She cried out, hitting the ground in a roll, she spun up and back into a stance, her blade swinging high in an upwards arc that raked along the inside of his thigh.

For a silent moment, Brutus was thankful for his codpiece.

Brutus's fist caught her in the stomach, and the woman puked upon his arm. She stumbled away from him. She reached up and wiped the vomit from her chin.

"Why?" She spat the words out, venom on her tongue. "Why are you hurting these people?"

She steadied herself, taking a two handed grip on her sword. Brutus mirrored her actions, holding his own sword in front of him.

'My reasons are my own, and they are far beyond your ken."

She growled, her sword angling behind her as she ran at him.

Brutus said nothing, his sword raising high above his head as they closed in on eachother.

Raven felt her arms shake with the blow, the force behind the weapon causing her teeth to rattle in her head. She stepped away, narrowly avoiding the crushing fingers that tried to wrap themselves around her throat. She raked the blade across his cuirass, sparks flying from the contact. She cursed when she saw that the damage done was negligible at best, pointless at worst. She ducked under a vicious backhand, hopping away so as to give herself space.

They had wandered into the crowd, who had yet to disperse. She tried desperately to aim her attacks away from them, but her opponent had no reservations against collateral damage.

Where she dodged his sword, it would cleave into the crowd, splitting limbs from bodies and severing heads from shoulders. She ducked under a sweeping strike that went above her and sheared a man in half. He forced her deeper into the panicking gaggle, his immense bulk pulping bodies and turning corpses into paste.

She was covered in gore, as was he. She could feel it, hot and wet against her skin, it disgusted her to no end. How many had died here? Twenty, thirty? She was appalled at the needless deaths of her own people, but he seemed to be drunk on it, feeding off the carnage he sowed. His strikes became more lethargic, slower, like the influx of death had dulled his reactions.

Like all this murder was like booze to him.

(@)

She blocked a strike from him, the force behind it knocking her sword from her hands.

His fists wrapped around her exposed throat, squeezing and crushing against her aura. She fought back, her fists pitifully banging against his helmet. She managed to hook her fingers under it, and rip it off.

His eyes were clouded and murky, shining with the elation of murder. His teeth shone in a face-splitting grimace, saliva dropping from his mouth.

"Do you understand? Do you see it?!"

She scrambled underneath him, desperately trying to get out from underneath him.

"The deaths of all who are murdered flow unto me like sweet wine! I am that which spurred humanity into it's new age of life! I am that which haunts all that has been built! I am that which has destroyed countless civilizations!"

She fumbled around with her hands, scrambling to find anything. Her hands wrapped around something hard, and with a strangled gurgle, pulled it out.

"I am Brutus! Son of Summer! And I am deathless!"

She swung the object up and plunged it down.

With a gasp, her attacker recoiled away from her. Crying out, his hands flew to his face, dark, brackish blood bubbling from between his fingers.

With a gurgle, Brutus fell backwards, and lay still, his knife still buried in his brain.

Raven stood on shaky legs, blinking away the spots from her vision. "You look..." She coughed away bloody phlegm. "You look pretty dead to me, asshole."

There was a noise, like thunder. She slammed her palms over her ears when she heard it, but the noise still found its way through. Screams echoed around her, like debilitating whispers in too many languages and too much at once for her to make out. The air around her boiled and froze, shattered like glass and melted. She felt sick, like whatever was going on had wrestled its way into her very soul, bringing taint and wrong along with it.

She managed to glimpse at the body.

Black coils wrapped itself around it, dragging it backwards into a...portal of some kind.

Her eyes ached from having to watch what was going on, and when she shut her eyes and felt them well up with hot liquid did she realize that they were bleeding.

Suddenly, it all stopped. The world became right, and the whispers and screams faded into the wind.

When she opened her eyes again, all she could see was Brutus's helmet, laying in the dirt.

She could feel it, something about that helmet was wrong. The space around it darkened and clogged, warped and shifted. Lines of some language danced angrily across its surface.

Raven threw a dead man's shirt over it, silencing the static that filled her ears.

(@)

 ** _"Poor, sweet Brutus. Too drunk on murder to realize your knife was stolen."_**

She ghosted through the aether, placing his body into his throne. She gazed upon its visage. The knife had already been expunged from the wound, which was even now sealing itself.

The flesh on his body was beginning to melt into the bone beneath.

 ** _"Barely even sixteen and already filled with enough power to go through a metamorphosis. Amazing, truly amazing."_**

The flesh boiled in some places, and receded into bleached bone in others. He was changing, the power he got from all the slaughter that had occurred sparking a change within him. His power had exceeded his physical body and now, as anything born of the ever-shifting tides of the aether does, it was changing.

" ** _Poor, poor child, don't worry."_**

She opened up a portal, pushing the throne deep into the vaults of Beacon Academy.

 ** _"What will happen here soon will ignite the fires that burn in your heart, and you will be able to fully embrace that..."_**

 ** _"Which is your birthright."_**

Raven poured more water over herself, washing away the blood. She felt violated, wrong in every sense of the word. Whatever that was that attacked her people, it wasn't human, it wasn't faunas, it wasn't even fucking grimm. It was something else entirely.

And it terrified the piss out of her.

She jumped slightly when her scroll rang, a deep monotone ringtone issuing forth from it.

Answering the scroll, she was quite surprised to find her brother on the other end.

"Hey, Raven. I need a favor."

She narrowe her eyes, her brother almost never called her for anything but favors. "Speak then, Qrow."

"I'm looking for someone, my nephew actually."

She Raised an eyebrow at him. "A nephew? I wasn't aware Tai had a son."

"Well, you would if you would visit every once in awhile."

She growled.

"Who is it Qrow?"

"His name is Brutus, big guy, weird eyes, wears a big suit of armor, if you find him, let me know, he hasn't been at school in awhile."

Raven bit her lip, there was no way, no way, that that...thing was Tai's son. No way.

"Qrow..." Raven began slowly. "I already know about Brutus Qrow.

"Great! Where is he? I want to know because Ozpin needs him for something, and I want to take him out fishing you know? He's got this pretty little number that hangs on his side all day and I think it's about time I gave him the talk and..."

Qrow stopped, eyes going wide at the sight of the bruises on her neck.

"Holy hell sis...what happened?"

"Qrow...Brutus is..."

She tried to think of a way to tell him gently, his little rant had shown just how much he cared for him.

But how do you tell somebody you stabbed their nephew in the face?

"He's...He's dead Qrow."

The scroll fell silent. "How do you know?"

"I saw it happen..." Raven was presented with a choice. She could tell the truth, and possibly break Qrow. Or...she could lie.

"It was one of Salem's people Qrow...They stabbed him in the head. I...have his helmet if you want it, but they took his body."

She could just about feel her his heart break through the scroll.

"Dust...I...Yeah, I'll take his helmet, I'll bring it home."

"Qrow...I'm sorry."

"Yeah...I know."

 ** _A/N:Well. Thats it. Brutus is dead. Stories over. Bada bing Bada booboom. Go home. Nah. I'm just kidding. This is where the good shite begins. Review and fav! It all helps me out!_**


	23. To craft a shard

It began as it ended, with the death of one and the lies of another.

Two inevitable eventualities crafted from the rises and falls of a song that transcended reality and the man-made invention of time.

The song twisted and turned, writhing in ecstasy and frozen in pain, it crashed through the minds of every soul upon the stalwart and feeble plain that was reality. Tortured minds sang of its inevitability, and through their own mad scrambling to hold themselves together, broke themselves long before its sinister touch could ghost beyond their limited perceptions.

It wound and stretched, coughed away great civilizations, and bellowed its triumph at the rise of new ones. Being both that which judged the hearts of mortals and the force by which they perished.

But what was death to an immortal but a setback in time?

And what was time but an invention by man to measure his own mortality?

(@)

Qrow held the helmet in his hands, the weight he felt from it coming from more than its material. The blackened visor stared deep into his own eyes, asking a million questions but unable to receive no answers.

It had no mouth, but it must scream.

He covered it again with the cloth, his heart unable to bear the sight of all that remained of his beloved nephew. He slid it under one arm, stepping back from his sister.

"Qrow..." She began softly, one hand reaching out.

Qrow shrugged away from her touch. "Don't Raven, just...Don't."

She retracted her arm, eyes set on the floor. "I'm sorry Qrow. He was...a good fighter."

Qrow smirked despite himself. "Yeah...He really was."

Silence reigned after, the twins unable to find any words to say to eachother. Finally, after an eternity, Qrow began to walk away. "Goodbye Raven."

Raven turned away as well, sword flashing out as she opened a portal. "Goodbye, Qrow."

With one final farewell, she disappeared.

"Dust, Brutus."

Qrow stepped inside the elevator, pressing the button for the headmaster's office.

"What am I going to tell your sisters.."

(@)

Ozpin looked up from his desk when he heard the elevator doors open.

"Ah, Qrow, impeccable timing, I may have just discovered where this queen figure my have a base an-"

"Save it. There's someone I'd like you to meet."

Ozpin went quiet at Qrow's outburst. Leaning forward in his chair, he doubled his hands together. "Ah yes, young master Rose." Ozpin glanced around the room, leaning out of his chair to peer araround Qrow. "Where is he."

Qrow removed a piece of cloth out from under his arm and placed it on his desk. "He's right here, Oz. Be a dear and say hello."

There was an lining of spite to Qrows voice, and as Ozpin removed the cloth, he understood why.

A helmet, built of heavy brass and stone, a blackened visor set within it.

"Qrow..." Ozpin began, the mystery of what had been placed on his desk slowly began to give way to a sinister reality. "I don't understand."

Qrow slammed his hand on the desk, growling as he bared his teeth. "This is all that's left of my nephew!"

Ozpin shook his head. "What do you mean Qrow?"

"Brutus was killed by one of Salem's people Oz. They knew you wanted to see him, and now he paid the price!"

Qrow was practically shouting now, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. "You dropped the ball on this Oz! You got him killed!"

Ozpin sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I'm sorry Qrow, I really am. I...didn't know."

"Yeah...well, now you know."

Qrow ran his hand through his hair, trying to calm himself down. "What are we going to do Oz? Brutus is dead, Salem's pushing further and further every day, Dust is being stolen right from under us, and to top it all off, Amber just rose from the fucking dead and left!"

"I don't know Qrow, I don't know why she left, maybe she was tricked, maybe she was lied to...but I don't want to imagine what sort of tortures she is going through."

(@)

Amber cheered as she kicked her feet in the water, spraying heated liquid all over the huge hot-tub. She turned, grabbing a large glass of mistralian wine that must have cost a fortune, and chugging half the contents down.

She sank deeper into the tub, delighting in the way the alcohol made her feel as warm on the inside as the water made her feel on the outside.

"This is...the life!" She screamed, slinging wine all over the place and drenching her nude body in booze.

"I have never felt so relaxed!" She giggled, drinking more wine. When the bottle ran empty, she groaned before tossing it in a nearby trashcan.

Grabbing another bottle from a passing praetorian, she ripped the seal off before standing out of the water.

"Watch this guys!" She shouted to her guards. "I'm gonna fit this whole bottle up my ass!"

(@)

Yang sat in class, bored out of her mind. Her eyes drifted to her brother's empty seat. He hadn't been showing up recently, and she began to worry about him. She was sure he was fine, but still, she couldn't help herself from coming up with all sorts of scenarios.

When class ended, she was surprised to find her dad standing outside the door.

"Listen, Yang. We have to talk."

Her father ran a hand through his hair, sighing loudly. "It's about your brother."

And in the span of one short conversation, her entire world came crumbling down.

(@)

Twisting and turning, squirming and wriggling like maggots in a corpse, screaming a hundred names, over a hundred lives, among a hundred souls. It shrieked and wailed in the blackness of impossibility, begging to be let free from its embryonic prison. It slammed against the barriers that held it in place, every strike and curse growing in power as it itself grew.

Finally, with the mind-shattering shriek of a creature that was when it should not have been, it clawed its to freedom.

The sheer violence of its birth echoed in reality, washing over the minds of all who were within its influence.

In Atlas, a man down on his luck sold his only daughter into sex slavery, taking the money he was paid, he then went and bought a pistol, before turning it on himself.

In Mistral, a woman drowned her husband, sobbing bloody tears that stained her soul forever.

In Vale, a certain faunas girl felt the passing presence of someone she had held close.

In Menagerie, one hate-filled being decided upon his final solution to his own perceived oppression.

And from the blood of a mortal wound upon an immortal being.

She came into existence.

And from her mouth came a song, echoing throughout the minds of those sensitive enough to hear it.

It is the unified cry of a hundred voices, taken from a hundred mouths, all singing their voices in terminal harmony.

Some are the last, dying pleads of the doomed, others are the eerie silence of a soul leaving its broken husk. As she sings, the battalion of interwoven deaths grows louder, stronger.

The screams all blend together, the melody of so many lives reaching the same fate reaching one impossible perfect note.

It is the very first note in a song that will last an eternity, and perhaps beyond.

And she, Shar-Narrayah, Firstborn of The First Murder, is its first singer.

Eyes manic with glee, she turns to her Father's shade, eager to do his bidding.

 ** _A/N: Short I know, but this is just to help setup stuff._**


	24. Assurance from beyond

Amber sank deeper into the throne, sighing as the concerned citizen before her continued to complain.

"As you can see, my lady, our food reserves are currently stocked with whatever the camp we came from had in stock, which is only designed to last a few months on strict rationing, not the sporadic consumption we have now.."

Amber sighed again, she knew all about the food situation, and from what he was talking about and what the Preatorians had told her, she knew quite a bit more. If the a new source of food wasn't found soon, then the whole city would starve in a couple of weeks. Rectifying the situation was already riddled with problems in and of itself. Where would they get enough food to feed four hundred people? They could raid it sure, but the food supply had to be steady, and protected. They might be able to start their own farms, but with everyone destined to go into the army, then starting any kind of long-term investment was pointless. Hell, with the way things are going, then the city won't have any inhabitants besides military personnel.

She agreed with the man and assured him that a solution had already been found, before waving her hand and sending him away.

"What the hell are we going to do?"

"You'll find something, I'm sure."

Amber jumped at the words, which echoed from just behind her. The voice was smooth, unnaturally so, and held such a seductive tone to it that she couldn't help but shiver.

She whirled around, her Praetorians turning in their spots beside the throne.

"Authority notification, _Violetta's Treasure._ "

When the intruder uttered that phrase, the praetorians, guns already flying up to waist level, relaxed and resumed their stance.

Amber scrambled out of her throne, fingers reaching for the small holdout pistol in her robes.

"Peace, it would not do for the Princess and The High Regent to carry on in such a scandalous manner."

The intruder held up her hand, perfectly manicured nails shining in the light of the throneroom. Her skin was a light violet, and smooth and beautiful. Her eyes were crimson coals that shone a deep, bloody color. Her hair, as red as blood, shone with an unnatural sheen. Her face was angular and sculpted, no blemish was visible upon her skin.

Amber stood dumbstruck, because of her guards reactions, or lack thereof, and the title by which this intruder had named herself.

"P-princess?!" Amber stuttered, shock playing across her features. "Brutus had a daughter!"

"Indeed, but in a...different sense. You may call me...Shar. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Her voice was so angelic, so tempting, so... _seductive_ , that Amber had a hard time keeping herself from melting. "L-likewise, Shar. What brings you here?"

Shar smiled, pronounced canines peeking out from between her soft, plump lips. "I am under orders from my father, he has asked me to...help cement his beloved city."

"What do you mean?"

"My father, before he became...indisposed, he had plans in place, things that he knew would lead to an eventuality. Now, since he can no longer enact those plans himself, he needs someone to do it for him."

Amber straightened, her eyes narrowing under her mask. "A maiden..." She said hotly. "Brutus needs a maiden."

Shar turned, staring at her with a blank face. She managed to hold the look for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. After awhile she managed to bring herself under control. "No, not at all dear Amber. You are High Regent! Your position is too important for you to be used for grunt work."

Amber didn't drop her glare. "So what does he need?"

"There are those in this world with a...sensitivity to the Aether. These individuals are few and far between, but I can feel their presence within the tides of unreality. Their minds are succulent with power, and their services are required."

Amber crossed her arms, not liking how this conversation was playing out. "So, where do I fit into this?"

"You don't. As I said before, you are High Regent, and as per my father's wishes, you are to be informed of every operation undertaken."

Shar regarded her with a glare, where her seductive gait and mirthful giggles had been was now replaced with a critical eye. "I suggest you start taking on the responsibilities of your station, as well as the perks."

Amber bit back the bile in her throat, even as a maiden, she wasn't keen on being insulted. "I am not an irresponsible person."

"No? Who was it that traveled without bodyguards?" Shar snapped at her.

Amber's teeth ground together, her fists clenching as her nails dug into her palms. "That wasn't my fault."

Shar wheeled on her, eyes narrowing into baleful slits. "Who was it that encountered a lone child on the road, _in the middle of nowhere,_ and didn't think that was suspicious?"

"I thought she needed help! I was just being a good person!"

Shar was advancing on her, her long legs carrying her with an aggression so unlike the image of her before. "Who wasn't able to defeat three teens despite the fact they had magical powers?!"

Shar was in her face now, practically shouting.

"Who had to be brought back from the _brink_ of oblivion?!"

Amber huffed, looking away, all but admitting defeat. "I made some mistakes okay? Doesn't mean I'm wholly unreliable."

Shar took a step back, her once flirtatious smile now replaced with an ugly frown. "No." She said. "It does not."

She turned to walk out of the throne room, but stopped halfway to look over her shoulder.

"Everyone makes mistakes, Amber. Just make sure that my Father's decision to bring you back wasn't one."

With a final indignant huff, Shar exited the throne room, flanked by two Praetorians.

As Amber sat back in her throne, she couldn't help but feel that the stone wasn't as comfortable as it used to be.

(@)

Endless blue. That was all she could see. Just endless blue waves for miles. She could feel her rickety little boat toss with every wave that touched upon its craggy, rotted surface, like silent threats.

Bun-Bun could feel the spray on her face, the salt stinging her eyes, mixing with her tears. She cried, the stinging loneliness of this endless blue ocean driving home a reality far too cruel for the young girl's heart.

Brutus was gone.

And without him, she was lost.

The boat creaked and rolled, every motion threatening to capsize the small craft and plunge her into the darkness below.

"Oh, Brutus." She sobbed his name, her shoulders heaving with every breath. "I'm so lost without you, please come home..."

But deep in her heart, she knew he wouldn't, and that thought felt like such a betrayal. Had she so little faith in him that she truly believed he was dead from just a feeling? Was she?

 _'Faith without works is dead.'_

He had told her that once, and while she didn't understand what he had meant at the time, she had done everything he had asked of her.

But could faith alone change reality?

She didn't know.

The water around her churned, turning white and bubbling. She barely noticed, perhaps it was some monster of the deep come to devour her and her sorrows? She didn't know, and she didn't care.

She let her arm drift over the side of the boat and trail in the water. She laid back, her tear soaked eyes drying as they drifted upwards to stare at the sky.

Something wrapped around her hand, weaving itself between her fingers. She looked down, and began to cry again.

A stone gauntlet, inlaid with brass was wrapped gently in her own hand, squeezing gently.

"Brutus?"

She reached down to touch it with her other hand, just to make sure. Her fingers inched closer, almost touching the stone her lover wore.

Bun-Bun shot up, sweat rolling down her face and body. She was breathing in great gasps of air. She looked around the room, eyes struggling to see in the dark.

A dresser, A table and chair, sword rack and a single picture of a woman in white with red hair.

She was in his room.

Was that what had caused the dream? She wrapped her arms around her knees, drawing them into herself.

That gauntlet had felt so real, and she could still feel its touch on her hand. She flexed the limb, fist clenching and relaxing.

It had felt so real, but it was just a dream.

Right?

Maybe it was, maybe it was more.

As she turned to look out the window, she realized she didn't know, and it was probably nothing more than a fever dream brought on by her grief and not a sign from her lover.

But she had faith that it was.


	25. Da big timeskip

Two years.

It had been two years since her brother died. Two years, two whole years, and the wound was still sore.

As Yang settled into her new dorm at the Prestigious Beacon Academy, she couldn't help but feel like it wasn't all it was cranked up to be, like all these halls were less full than they should have been.

Setting up the final touches to her bed, pulling out items and decor from her bag, she froze when she felt the familiar cool edge of something close to her heart.

Pulling the item out, she couldn't help but smile.

It was an old picture, the color fading away slightly due to age. The picture was of her brother, holding a stalwart pose as his face held a blank expression.

Yang giggled a little at his expression, his reluctance to smile in photos being the topic of non-stop teasing from her.

 _"Why don't you smile? Afraid to break the camera with your nasty teeth?"_ He would always just shake his head, never answering her.

"Well bro." Yang said as she placed the picture frame on the window by her bed. "We made it to Beacon."

But it still felt like not all of her made it.

Yang shook her head, dispelling any and all depressing thoughts from her head. She was here, in the present and she had to live her life. That is what Brutus would have wanted.

The door opened, and Ruby came walking in, her face split with a smile. "Hey sis!" She shouted. "Whatcha doing?"

Yang smiled again. "Just...talking to bro is all."

Immediately, Ruby's face fell into a depressed frown, her eyes softening. "..Oh, I'm sorry I interrupted."

Yang waved her hand dismissively. "Don't be sorry Ruby, he's your brother too."

Ruby shuffled awkwardly up to the photo, her hands wringing together. "Hey Brutus, how's it..uh...going?" She squeezed her eyes shut at that, though Yang didn't know if it was because what she said was weird, or whether or not to hold her tears back.

"Hey, I'll leave you two alone, okay? Take all the time you need."

"Thanks sis..." Ruby whispered quietly, Yang giving her a pat on the shoulder before leaving the room.

"So..." She began, rocking back and forth on her heels. "I made it to beacon...Even got my own team! And I'm teamed up with Yang!"

She laughed as she spoke, a desperate laugh filled with emotion. "There's this girl though, Weiss...I don't think she likes me very much...She's prim and proper and boring, though I'm sure you two would have gotten along together pretty well!"

Something ran down her face, and Ruby quickly realized she was crying.

"I wish...That you were here to meet them..They'd love you, especially Jaune. He's a boy I met."

Ruby blushed when she realized what she said and quickly waved her arms in front of her. "Not like that though! He's a friend, and just a friend."

Ruby stood there, one hand rubbing her arm sheepishly. "I just want you to know bro, that I love you and I know I'll make you and mom proud!"

There was a knock at the door, followed by angry shouting from Weiss.

"Well, I got to go bro, I'll talk to you later...I guess."

Ruby turned away, and used her sleeves to wipe away her tears.

Deep down below, an immortal heart broke.

(@)

Curling mist permeated the air, undisturbed by the figures passing through it's unnatural stillness with a ghost-like gait. The walls were dark and damp, trickling drops of dirty liquid fell on to the pair during their exodus from the cooling pipes that lined the hall.

At the end of the hall stood a heavy door, bolted shut with a thick rod of steel. One of the figures undid the bolt, and the door swung open on squealing hinges.

Macharius Malum sat in front of a faunas woman, his eyes staring uninterestedly into the cloth bag over her head.

"I'll ask you one time, why was the shark faunas girl singled out and attacked?"

He got no response, only frustrated breathing.

Macharius nodded to his partner, who turned to a nearby table. "Listen." Macharius began. "If you tell us, then I can make all the pain go away."

"I d-don't hurt."

Macharius leaned back in his chair, one leg crossing over the other. He gestured mildly in his partners direction. "Jack, be a dear and hold her down."

Jack nodded, strong hands coming to rest atop the woman's shoulders, effectively pinning her in place.

"You attacked an innocent faunas woman, we want to know why." He continued. The woman was silent for a moment, the gears in her head turning as she tried to weigh the consequences.

She decided to say nothing.

A painful mistake.

Macharius sighed, accepting a curved knife from Jack, he leaned forward and pulled the woman's stockings away from her legs.

"Last chance." He said, receiving no answer. "A pity."

She stifled a gasp when the knife entered her leg.

Soon, she was screaming.

Macharius pulled the stained flesh away from the twitching raw muscle beneath, his knife slicing slowly as he skinned her alive. He hummed through his work, stopping every so often to wash the wound with saltwater, before continuing his bloody work.

"I can make this stop, but you have to tell me why she was attacked."

The woman's sobs racked her body, her head shaking frantically back and forth.

"She was with a human." She whispered finally.

"A human? You attacked an innocent woman because she was around a human?"

"No, because she was sleeping with one."

Macharius raised an eyebrow, and with a glance he motioned for his partner to leave the room.

Macharius stood, hand reaching back to the small table next to his chair. "Good work, now a deal's a deal."

Pulling the pistol off the table, he blew her brains all over the back wall. Sighing, he picked up his scroll.

"Yeah, this is Macharius, got another one for the wall...yeah, don't worry, she's pretty worked over, she'll fit right in with the others."

(@)

Sylva Skarn motioned for the rest of her white fang squad forward with her, the barrel of her carbine sweeping the area in front of her.

Her nose twitched as the wind blew against her nose, the stench that carried on it almost strong enough for her to vomit.

 _'By the Gods, what is that smell!?'_

Shaking her head, she cleared her thoughts. They would be coming up on the wall soon, to the place where her sister had went missing a week ago. She had a plan, scale the wall, find the leader, and make them take her to her sister.

She could see it a few minutes later, a grey monolith that shattered out of the ground and stood tall in the face of all who opposed it.

Sylva approached the tree line, hiding behind a bush when she got close enough.

That was when she saw what was causing the smell.

Bodies lined the wall, hanging from long stretches of rope. Some were little more than maggot ridden corpses, others were more fresh, their bodies just beginning to decompose.

As her eyes scanned the wall, she fell upon a sight she nenever wanted to see.

It was another body, the bottom half skinned entirely and the face little more than a sunken crater. Blood dripped from where it hung. A pair of bat ears topped the corpses head.

A pair just like hers.

"No...No, please! Not her! Not my sister!"

She screamed the words out, her mind unable to wrap itself around the unimaginable horror of what was in front of her.

The other squad members began squealing for her to be quiet, and to shut up.

"Sylva! Shut up! You're going to get us kil-"

The faunas never got to finish his sentence, a round ventilating his skull. Sylva didn't even register his death, nor the short gunfight that followed after. She didn't register when everything went quiet, or the dull thumps of heavy boots.

She didn't register the barrel pressed against the back of her head.

Then she didn't register anything anymore.

(@)

Jack Saxon smiled under his helmet as the faunas woman's body dropped to the ground, the sight of the people who brutalized his tribe dying made him feel warm inside.

His eyes glanced to her ears. They sure were pretty, dark fur covering them as they twitched in her death throes, sure would be a shame to let them go to waste, they would look so pretty hanging from his armor, all the other men from his tribe would be jealous and all the women would swoon over him, he'd be the talk of the tribe if he got those ears.

His hand reached for his machete.

The built in communication device in his helmet burst into static, interrupting his would be trophy taking. He grumbled when he heard the orders for him to go to the palace, and snarled when they mentioned that he wasn't supposed to take trophies anymore.

Slinging his rifle on his shoulder, he began to head his way back into his new home.

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _Sorry for the timeskip, the upcoming chapters will be fun, I hope._**

 ** _I still need two OC's, PM me if interested._**


	26. Machinations of Madness

Amber breathed in, letting the fulfilling rush of oxygen calm her nerves. She held the breath for a moment, before exhaling in a great sigh. Her stomach knotted with twists, and her insides were awash with doubt and nausea. She wrung her hands together, trying desperately to clear them of sweat. She was nervous, and rightly so. She had been summoned, for the first time in two years, she had been called upon by Brutus.

She stood before the Ocularum Segmenta, a powerful artifact that had been designed by her master, so as to allow them to communicate over great distances without the insecure use of the Scroll Network.

The Ocularum Segmenta stood unlit, it's half-circle shape looking to be a stone arch inscribed with runes. To the untrained eye, or rather the ignorant one, it would seem to be a piece of outlandish architecture, and only that.

But she knew better.

Placing her hand on a stone dais, she surged her maiden powers, feeding power into the machine. The runes inscribed upon its surface lit up with a bright, amber colored light, their figures blurring as the power being pumped into them burned a hole through the veil.

With a spark, appearing for the briefest second in the center of the machine, it exploded into a shining ripple in reality.

Holding her breath, she stepped through.

(@)

The other side was strange, in a similar way, grey cobblestone met her vision, as windowless walls loomed in on either side of her.

Did she leave the palace at all?

 **"You did, I chose this place as our meeting point because of its familiarity to you."**

That voice, like honey covered stones grating together, she knew it well, and had been on the receiving end of it many times.

She looked towards the far end of the room, quickly bowing her head as she saw who stood at the other end.

"My Lord, forgive me." She said quickly, her eyes not leaving the floor.

 **"Forgive what exactly? Do not waste my time with your frivolous pleadings."**

"Of course my Lord, forgive me."

She flinched as she could practically _hear_ his frown deepening.

 **"Report upon the city."**

"The city's population has boomed quickly, our military now numbers in the thousands after the assimilation of several tribes and homeless from the rest of the kingdoms."

 **"How have you managed to feed them?"**

"We have settled deals with several farmers, food in exchange for protection and money. What this does not provide, we purchase from other kingdoms via liaisons with funds from the state."

Amber rattled off the info quickly, getting to the core matter of the subject with as much speed as possible. Brutus preferred it that way, anything else tried his already thin patience.

 **"This will not do."**

Amber felt a knot form in her chest. Had she failed? Had she neglected her duty?

"My Lord?" She stammered. "Have I failed?"

 **"No, you have done well, exceedingly well, but the treasury is not infinite, and the people must not depend upon the throne for everything."**

"What do you suggest, my Lord?"

Brutus hummed, an armored gauntlet rubbing his exposed head. **"Establish several Merchant houses, with two governing over food and two more over weapons and ships, the competition between the two respective houses will push our food production and weapons manufacturing to new heights, and improve upon our current armaments."**

Amber bowed, her head swinging low. "At once my Lord, but I must tell you that we have no weapons manufacturing, or any factories of any kind."

Brutus paused, an uncharacteristic unease settling over him.

 **"Then how was the Army armed?"**

"With munitions and weapons purchased from varying companies across Remnant, paid for by the throne, of course."

Brutus resumed his silence, his frown deepening as he thought. Had he not known of the purchases nor the lack of industry? The city had agriculture, and little else.

Had...Brutus mad a mistake?

 **"An...Oversight in my part, the fault lies with me. After this meeting, I want you to establish merchant houses, as well as new laws geared towards taxing their profits."**

"At what rate should they be taxed?"

Amber hoped it was low, the Kingdom's taxes were outrageously high, the middle class getting taxed at a whopping forty percent, and the upper had a high twenty-five. She had seen people broke by the amount they had to pay, hopefully Brutus wouldn't set it too high.

 **"A flat tax of ten percent of income, I seek to finance the Army and the Throne, not break their backs. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of building industry and getting jobs flowing. A Kingdom lives and dies by its stomach and its wallet, remember that. We'll sell the gold and dust in the treasury, and pay city workers and the army in lien, as it is a universal currency already."**

"Very good, my Lord."

 **"I do not want these taxes any higher Amber, you cannot tax a nation into prosperity."**

"Of course."

Silence reigned, Amber listening intently as she waited for Brutus to give her more commands.

Yet she was still nervous, her mind thinking treacherous thoughts as she imagined Brutus becoming an evil, greedy tyrant. She quickly squashed those thoughts, but apparently her unease had betrayed her and it had shown on her face.

 **"Amber, I need to show you something."**

She nodded silently, and went to him. His arm waved and reality distorted in front of her, a shimmering image coming into view.

An old man, his hair and moustache as white as can be. He toiled away at a desk, signing papers left and right. A half full glass of some brown liquid sat haphazardly near the edge, the heavy smudges upon it showing its use.

Amber recognized the man, Jaques Schnee, the owner of the Schnee Dust Company, a major player in business.

She couldn't help but sneer, his reputation with the faunas and his workers was less than savory.

 **"Look upon him, and tell me what you see."**

"I see a man at a desk, but not just any man, a very rich man."

 **"Yes, but look harder, look at what he is doing."**

Amber looked again, this time at the papers upon his desk he was so callously signing. They were moving too fast for her to read, but she was able to make out some of it, just letters and numbers, designations and locations, not much else.

"They're numbers and letters."

 **"Yes, the official names of what are essentially death camps and gulags, many of these have been raided recently by the Praetorians, every attack bringing in new blood to the city."**

Amber cocked an eyebrow. "I didn't authorize any raids."

 **"I did. Look upon him, Amber. See him for what he is at his core."**

She did, she saw him for who he was, she didn't need to gaze upon him for that. "He's rotten, greedy and corrupt. He is a slaver, and he isn't shy about it."

 **"Yes, but such corruptions rarely manifest themselves in such clarity, the damnation flooding his character is the crescendo of its siren's song. Its immensity and physicality is what makes it so insidious. Far more often, such corruption lurks beneath our sight, it curdles thoughts inside a skull, inks the blood in one's veins. And that is enough, more than enough. It brings us to moments like these, in the company of Ambitious and unfaithful men, too proud to see their own downfall."**

Amber straightened, tearing her gaze away from the Schnee and onto her master. "Where is this going, Brutus?"

 **"A Kingdom is no different, it is as susceptible to corruption as any man. Take Vale for example, it stands as a shining beacon of equality and hope, greeting the huddled masses with open arms. Yet its slums are filled with faunas and humans too downtrodden to raise themselves. It has a mighty wall, but no army to defend it."**

Amber glared as she tried to make sense of what he was saying. Vale was corrupt? She didn't think so. It accepted everyone, no matter their race or creed. All were welcome within its walls, safe from the grimm.

But not safe from criminals, or the White Fang.

Was that what Brutus was trying to say? That due to the criminal underground of Vale that the whole Kingdom was corrupt?

That didn't make any sense, one bad grape didn't mean the whole vine was ruined.

"That's not true, sure Vale has a bad criminal presence, but that doesn't mean it's all corrupt. If you could remove the criminal element, then the whole kingdom would be better off for it."

Brutus turned to her, his mouth set in a stern frown. **"Then why haven't they?"**

"I..." Amber began, but quickly lost her voice. Why _hadn't_ Vale removed its criminal underground? Why had criminals like Roman Torchwick been allowed to carry on for so long? "I..Don't know."

 **"Because the council does not desire it to be so, they are paid by the criminals to keep it this way, to keep people downtrodden and dumb so that the criminals can prey upon them for muscle, drugs and money. The kingdom has no military because according to the council it would be an act of aggression, when in reality, if the generals in charge found out of their corruption, there would be a coup. Vale has become a sickening beacon for all that is wrong with the world, it is bloated with corruption, seeded with ignorance and flippancy, and infested with an indifference to the enemy right outside their gates."**

Amber's eyes went wide, her mouth hanging open. "You...You intend to march upon Vale!"

Brutus waved his hand through the air non-chalantly. **"Eventually, yes."**

"You can't destroy an entire kingdom because you don't like it!"

Brutus wheeled on her, his hand coming up to poke at her. **"I will destroy Vale because it is inevitable it be destroyed, not some personal vendetta. The place is a cancer, and a cancer can only spread."**

Amber glared, her arms crossing as she looked away from him. "I don't like the idea of attacking another kingdom."

Brutus said nothing, instead turning away from her as he walked away. Amber did the same, walking through the Ocularum and back into the palace.

(@)

Amber growled as she exited the portal, the hole in reality snapping shut as she stomped her way back into the palace. Her already sour mood turned downright murderous as she spied Shar waiting for her by the door that led back into one of the many twisting halls of the Royal palace.

"What do you want?" Amber spat, her anger making her forget her manners and just who she was talking to.

"You better watch that tongue of yours, little Maiden, talk to my father that way and he might just cut it out." Shar giggled back, idly checking her nails.

"Leave me alone Shar, I'm not in the mood for your stupid games."

Shar giggled again, this time stepping directly into her path. "You know..." She said. "That you don't have to like what my father commands, only that you have to obey him, whether it be to jump, climb, kill..." Her eyes lit up with a teasing mirth. "Or hike up your dress and bend over."

Amber hissed, her fists shaking as she tried to restrain herself. "I don't disobey, merely question."

Shar laughed, her hand landing daintily upon her chest. " _Question, disobey?_ Does it really matter? _I_ would never question any orders he would give me, unlike you."

"I only question orders that I don't agree with!" Amber seethed through gritted teeth.

"Oh please, he could tell you to suck his dick and you'd ask why."

There was a resounding smack as Amber's hand struck Shar's cheek, a nasty mark forming upon her once flawless skin.

Shar gaped as she placed a hand upon her stinging cheek, her eyes wide with shock.

" ** _I_** am Lord High Regent, not **_You!_** This post was entrusted to me because I can think past blind loyalty! I obey, but I do question, because it is good to have a second opinion, your father recognizes this while you obviously don't!"

Amber's cheeks were red with exertion, and she was panting as she ranted. "I don't care if he did ask me to suck his dick, I'd ask if he wanted me to deepthroat it, if he wanted to fuck me up the ass, I'd ask in which position! He hasn't asked me these things because your father is a good man!"

Amber shoved Shar back, continuing her tirade. "Brutus formed this city, this _Empire_ from nothing! He built everything with his own two hands! He saved me from death itself!"

"He is the greatest man I have ever known! He's compassionate, stern, intelligent and...and.."

Amber stormed past Shar, her cheeks burning pink. She opened the door, turning at the last second before she opened the door. "And you are nothing like your father."

With that final word, Amber left the room, intent on resuming her duties.

As Shar massaged her cheek, a vicious grin broke out on her lips. "So, little miss maiden has quite the torch for my dear old father."

"How...Predictable."

 **A/N:**

 **A Long chapter, providing a bit more insight to the workings of the city, which I still haven't named, and the feelings of Amber, Brutus and Shar.**

 **Dark tidings for Vale my dudes.**


	27. Ambush

Darkness, void in its entirety of light, empty and soundless, without substance, without form.

He was cut off from the world around him, he was blind, deaf and paralyzed. Nothing responded, he could not move, nor could he speak.

He was well and truly _powerless._

No, not quite powerless, he could cast his shade, a projection of himself, into the aether, where he could still communicate, despite its lack of efficiency.

It took a considerable amount of concentration to maintain, and an even larger amount of time to conjure, but time was what he had most.

For the past two years, he had been in this state, only able to experience the world through his shade, where everything felt like a dream, without substance and form.

He was senseless, in every meaning of the word. His world had been one of darkness and ever maddening silence, where only the void existed, and only the void prevailed.

He felt trapped, like his mind was caged in an iron box, and no amount of banging on the walls would let him free.

In truth, he missed the world, he missed his family.

He missed Ruby's smile, and her energetic world view.

He missed Yang's joking grin, and how she would joke and make puns, as dreaded as they were.

He missed Bun-Bun, her loving attention and warm attitude had brought an unexpected shine to his life.

And he had thrown it all away.

He had gotten cocky, arrogant and too drunk on the carnage he had sowed to realize the most obvious of his mistakes. His own foolishness had done more than put him in a bad spot, it had outright killed him.

It was sickening and pitiful.

Once he was free he would love his family, be there for them, like he hadn't been for the past two years.

But for now, he would wait. He would wait and plan, as he always had.

His mind ached, feeling more akin to a prison than his own consciousness. The tides of his sentience felt constricted, the bloated fat of thought straining through the gaps of a cage, spilling out.

He strained against the cage, mental strength and power fighting against the bonds of its current form. He battered against the door, rattling the shackles that restrained him.

Until finally, with one final mental push, he broke free.

(@)

Ozpin sat within his office, the paperwork piled upon its surface never seemed to lessen no matter how many papers he signed off on and filed away. It was late at night, and he was too busy to sleep.

A noise echoed within his office, a dull heavy thud, like something falling or someone knocking something over.

Ozpin leaned over his desk, eyes peering into the space beyond it. From the floor, he could see something reflecting light back at him.

It was Brutus's helmet, it had fallen from its place on a stand near his desk. Ozpin frowned, while he had no doubt that the helmet was sturdy, as it had likely served its purpose well, it had held a greater, more potent philosophical meaning behind it. A testament to the caution he would have to exercise from now on, lest good people pay the price for his ignorance.

Ozpin got up from his desk, and walked over to the helmet. Picking it up, he turned it over, blowing some dust from its surface, he couldn't help but stare into the visor, its black gaze accusing him of yet another mistake on his conscience. Ozpin looked to its stand, a tall wooden pole rose from a three pronged base, the pole would be inserted into the helmet, far too deeply for it to fall off.

So how did it fall off?

"Hello? Anybody there?" He called out, hoping that someone would answer from the darkness. He narrowed his eyes when he received no answer.

Could one of the staff had done it? Not likely, as he would have heard the door open, and Glynda detested pranks.

The helmet fell from his hands, its hefty weight disappearing from his grasp.

Ozpin looked away from the darkness, and to the spot where the helmet landed, or rather where it should have landed.

Instead, he saw a pair of dainty feet, wrapped in leather sandals.

Ozpin tore his gaze upward, his cane being ripped from its spot next to his desk and brought up in front of him.

Its ghostly visage flickered and sputtered, its translucent body fading in and out from sight. Long, silken hair flowed from its head, a pair of horns on either side of its head. Blazing, crimson eyes were coupled with a scandalous smirk. A silk dress so glamorous that it felt like a sin to lay his eyes upon it reached down to her ankles, a slit down the dress revealed light purple skin.

It flipped its hair, Brutus's helmet gripped tightly between its delicate fingers. "How funny, that the birth throes of my father would summon me to his grave, oh how...Ironic."

Ozpin held his cane in front of him, circling the newcomer cautiously, sure to give her a wide birth. "Who are you?" He said evenly.

The creature raised an eyebrow, her gaze regarding him with a look of impunity. "Is that how you address your superiors?"

"You are not my superior, I am the headmaster here."

It sighed, cocking its hip and rolling its eyes. "Really now? I am the daughter of a _God_ , you old fool, my existence is infinitely more important than yours."

Ozpin grimaced. "The only thing your existence seems to be infinite in is your delusions."

It...She let go of the helmet, the piece of armor continuing to float where it stood. She ghosted forward, seeming to glide effortlessly across the floor. Ozpin stepped back, intent on keeping their distance as far away as possible.

She giggled at his movements, her hand flipping through the air as she laughed.

"You don't need to be afraid, old man, I won't hurt you, that's not what brought me here."

Ozpin maintained his distance regardless. "Forgive me if I don't come closer, I tend to _not_ trust strangers."

She laughed again. "Wise words, but maybe this will go easier if I adopt a friendlier face?"

Her features shifted and changed, and within seconds, Ozpin was staring at Glynda Goodwitch.

"Is this better?" She said, her voice matching Glynda's perfectly. "Or maybe I have too much clothing on?"

Ozpin raised a hand before she could shift the illusion again. "Your impersonation is authentic enough already, there's no need for further degradation."

She blinked, her hand flying to her chest in mock hurt. "Degradation? It is an honor for me to wear someone's skin, they should feel blessed that I have elevated their visage's so."

"I'm sure they would argue otherwise."

She huffed and shifted back to her original look. "I thought old people had an eye for beauty?"

Ozpin chuckled. "We do, just not for fakes."

She huffed again, and crossed her arms in front of her. Ozpin glared at her, his mind running through a thousand possibilities. Was this woman an agent of Salem? Was she an assassin? She had mentioned her father, and that being why she was here.

"Your father, you said that was why you were here. Who is he?"

"Oh yes, my father, the very being who brought me here, unknowingly of course, through his own power."

Ozpin rubbed his chin, a being with enough power to instantly transport another being directly into his school would be a great boon and a potent tool should he be swayed to their side.

But could he do it? His own decisions in the past had gotten a young boy killed, and the fact that it was a family member of one of his most trusted lieutenants only made it worse.

"Who is your father?" Ozpin asked.

She chuckled. "I wouldn't tell you my father's true name, even if I knew it myself. Now the name his adopted mother gave him, you know that already."

Ozpin raised his eyebrow. "I can assure you that I do not know of anyone with enough power to do what you describe."

"Yes, you do. You know of him, and you know his mother very well."

A chill went down Ozpin's spine, the implied meanings behind the words did not settle well.

Was she talking about Salem? Did Salem have a son?

The idea was terrifying, for his arch-nemesis to breed and have a family of her own was even more terrifying.

"You speak of Salem, don't you."

She laughed again. Her hand slapping against her stomach. "I don't know who Salem is, but his adopted mother died in your service, not that he knows that."

Ozpin narrowed his eyes. "Then how do you know that?"

She lost her flippant attitude, and her mouth set into a agitated snarl. "Because that whore Amber told me."

Ozpin's eyes went wide, his composure slipping for a brief moment. "You know where Amber is? Tell me where she is!"

She reeled away from the swing of his cane, dodging a strike meant for her head. She dodged the follow up strike with as much grace as a dancer.

"She's alive, and...happy, I suppose." She said before he could strike at her again, ghosting out of his reach.

"Tell me where she is, now." Ozpin spat. "I need her back, it is imperative that she be kept safe."

"Was she safe when she was in that tomb below the school? She's under armed guard constantly, in the most secure structure on remnant."

"Mere soldiers aren't enough to protect her."

She smirked. "Believe me, the Praetorians are no mere soldiers."

Ozpin's frown deepened. "Fine, if you won't tell me anything, I see no point in talking further."

"Oh believe me, old man, there's plenty to tell about the corpse in that tomb."

"Amber isn't down there anymore."

She smiled. "I'm not talking about Amber."

With that bit of information, her figure faded almost entirely. "Oh, it seems our little chat is out of time, so farewell for now, old man."

She disappeared again, her body fading away from sight. A dull thud sounded when the helmet lost its supernatural abilities and fell to the ground.

Ozpin sat back in his chair, and sighed.

"My job never. gets easier."

(@)

" _Hello and good morning! This is radio New Kingdom, bringing the news of a new world! This morning, the High Regent announced that she has been in contact with King Brutus, and she says that he is in good health and continues to work for the betterment of the city._ "

" _Now if that don't mean he's quite the cool cat then I don't know what does. In other news, the chieftain of a nearby tribe has pledged his allegiance to the throne after the tragic death of his wife and infant son during a grimm attack, funeral services will be held later today, all are welcome to attend._

 _The forecast for today is a heavy one, we have a brutal storm coming in, and it is a doozy. Stay dry out there people, we're going to be in for a long one."_

The radio crackled, music issuing forth from its speakers.

Rain poured down outside of the tent, massive torrents of water crashed down upon the canvas material, hurricane force winds blew away anything not nailed down with an angry hand.

Bert Blackson stood guard, water pouring down his helmet. He was soaked to the bone, his wool uniform sucking to his skin. His rifle was heavy in his arms, the cheap weapon was uncomfortable, and pieces of its body had already broken away.

He hated the rain, and worse yet, he hated being in this bloody outpost, if it could be called that. The collection of tents and towers was barely worth being called a camp. He stood in a wood tower, watching out at the forest.

They had been expecting a shipment of supplies the day before, but nothing had arrived. The camp commander had felt something was off, so he sent riders into the forest to look for the missing shipment.

Nothing had been out of the ordinary, shipments were late all the time, usually they would encounter a problem, break down somewhere and the riders would find them and assist them, it was all commonplace.

Only the riders never came back.

The camp had been on alert for the past day, sentries posted all the way around the perimeter looking for grimm and anything else that could pose a threat.

Bert sniffed, water running down his thick moustache. He hated this post, if it rained, it poured. If it was hot, it was sweltering. If it was cold, it was freezing.

He just wanted to go back home, to his wife and son, where it was warm and he had more to eat than ration bars and whatever wandered by.

He sighed, and cursed the weather. The past three months had been excruciating, two men had been sick with the flu and without their supplies, they were running low on food and ammo.

Oh well, he only had two more weeks here before he got rotated out back home.

A gunshot echoed throughout the forest, and Bert felt something slam into his stomach, pain exploding across his guts. Bert stumbled back, falling off the tower. He landed in the mud with a wet smack. He tried to stand, to rise to his feet and fight back, but heavy boots soon trampled him back into the mud. Screaming mouths flew past him, weapons raised as they ran into the camp.

Gunfire and shouts rang out from the camp as soldiers fought back, sirens going off as emergency messages were relayed through the radio back to the city.

In his dying moments, Bert thought back to his family, and the life they were given. They had gone from simple farmers on a unprotected plot of land to producing some of the finest crops guarded by soldiers. They were happy, secure and full, he had fulfilled his purpose as a father.

It was just too bad he couldn't fulfill his role as a dad.

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _It has been awhile my dudes, and hopefully this chapter will help make up for it. As always, review and fav!_**

 ** _I'm a review whore so yeah._**


	28. Partial names

Qrow stared blankly at the ceiling of his hotel room, his eyes dull and unfocused.

' _How long has it been?_ '

His stomach twisted with knots and his heart ached with guilt. ' _How long has it been since Brutus died?'_

He remembered, of course, the pain of losing his nephew was old and jagged in his mind, never quite at the forefront of his mind, but never at the back of it either.

Brutus had such a promising career ahead of him, he was strong, intelligent, and sturdy, he could have been one of the greatest huntsmen who had ever lived.

Only for him to get stabbed in the face by some corrupted fuck-wad.

Qrow's scroll rang, breaking him from his depressing thoughts. The number was Ozpin, ironically enough, and Qrow answered it with a scowl.

"What?" He asked, his voice tinged with annoyance.

" _Qrow, I need to ask you some questions."_ Came Ozpin's polite reply. " _About Brutus."_

Qrow rubbed his eyes, the stinging feeling in them subsiding with his movements.

"Yeah. Sure." Qrow said. "Ask away."

 _"Did Brutus have a daughter?"_ Qrow shot up in his bed.

"What?! No! Of course he didn't have a damned daughter! Why would you ask that?!"

Ozpin's voice took on a serious edge. " _Because someone claiming to be his daughter appeared in my office saying that her father brought her there by accident."_ Qrow felt an uneasy feeling build in his gut, the air around him becoming chilled as his hairs stood on edge.

Something about what Ozpin had said felt wrong. No one, and he meant no one, just appeared in Ozpin's office. Not unless they could appear out of thin air.

"Oz, that doesn't make any sense, Brutus has never been to Beacon, plus he's..." Qrow swallowed, the finality of what he was about to say hitting him hard. "..He's dead."

 _"You're right about one thing Qrow, Brutus is dead, for now at least, but he has been to Beacon. In fact."_ _"He's under it."_

(@)

The elevator doors slid open, Qrow taking large strides out of the confined space and into Beacon's Vault. He didn't know what to make of this whole situation. His nephews body just appears in a place so secure that even Salem would think twice to challenging it, and no one knows how it got there?

Qrow shook his head, continuing his way into the vault.

His large strides stopped dead as he took in the horrid sight before him.

"By the Brothers..."

Sitting in the middle of the Vault was his nephew, Brutus Rose.

His body was still clad in his armor, the stone-grey material inscribed with what was once bright lines of script, which now laid lifeless and inert.

His skull loomed silently into his chest, the bone white and pristine, a sight that Qrow thanked for silently, not wanting to find his nephew in a state of rot.

"Ah, Qrow. I'm glad you're here."

"Oz..." Qrow began, unable to take his eyes off his nephews corpse. "What the hell is this?"

Oz coughed awkwardly. "It's Brutus, Qrow."

"I-I can see that, but how did he get here?!" Qrow stammered, still not believing his eyes.

"I do not know, but he was here, just like his...daughter..Said he would be."

Qrow walked closer to the body, his hand running along one pauldron, wiping away the dust that had accumulated on it. "Brutus..." Qrow grimaced as his voice cracked. "Brutus..Didn't have a daughter, he had a girlfriend, Bun-Bun, I believe, but that was it."

"A girlfriend?"

Qrow cringed, it sounded so awkward when Ozpin said it.

"Yes, a girlfriend, Brutus and her, from what Yang told me, shared everything, they were inseparable."

Ozpin hummed, his hands rubbing together over his cane as he thought.

"Would he have shared everything with her as well?"

"I suppose." Qrow replied sorrowfully, his eyes unable to leave the corpse of his best friend's son. "Brutus wasn't exactly open...He had a lot of secrets, knew a lot of things. Hell, he just showed up in that armor one day, the guy was mysterious, didn't really tell us where he was going, he would just up and disappear, sometimes for hours, sometimes for days, no one really knew where to though. I always assumed it was to go see someone."

Qrow turned to look at Ozpin, his eyes bloodshot and tired-looking "You don't think that... Brutus was in league with Salem, do you?"

Ozpin said nothing, his face betraying that what he didn't say.

Qrow looked at Ozpin with wide eyes, unbelieving in what Ozpin was silently accusing his nephew of. "Oz...You can't be serious! Brutus would never side with that witch, he was a good person, innoce-"

"Your nephew's innocence is being brought into question, Qrow, but that is not the subject at hand." Ozpin raised his hand. "It is not so much that he was in league with Salem, as he was so much as coveted by her."

Qrow shook his head, his mind reeling with the accusations.

What Ozpin was saying made no sense. Coveted by Salem? Why would she have any reason to desire his nephew? Brutus was strong and intelligent, sure, but that was the end of his special traits...Right?

Qrow knew it wasn't though, Brutus was special, enormously so. His mind was a weapon in and of itself, his body was at peak condition, full of murderous muscle and strong sinews.

He built things that no one understood, he knew so much that no one else knew.

"She had him killed, Oz. I doubt that she wanted him for much." Qrow spat.

"Awhile before Amber was taken, there was an intruder in the vault, an intruder who bypassed every security system in the school, slipped by the student body, and eluded both myself, and Professor Goodwitch entirely." Ozpin said, his face gaining a strange look to it. "Upon confronting the intruder, and asking how he knew where Amber was, he said that he followed the sound of her soul crying."

When Qrow didn't interrupt, Ozpin continued.

"When I asked why her soul was crying, he said it was because it knew her body was dead, and when I last saw Amber, I can assure you, her body was most certainly not dead."

"Before hand however, Brutus had gone on an expedition to observe some grimm with some fellow students, I'm sure you know the one I'm talking about."

Qrow did, how could he not? It was one of the worst accidents in Signal's history, of twenty students, only two survived. It had been treated as a tragedy, and rightly so.

"The black box onboard the crashed bull-head revealed that the port-side engine did not suffer a critical failure, as was previously thought, but instead, it had registered an explosion within the intake itself."

The accusation went unsaid, but still hung heavily in the air. The crashing bull-head hadn't been an accident if what Oz was telling him was true, it had been an assassination attempt.

"The wounds from the recovered bodies of the students were in line with attacks common for the grimm in the area, except for one." Ozpin's voice became more stern, more controlled as he spoke. "The wounds on one Mister Geronimo showed an intense trauma to the cranium, combined with an acidic chemical not found in any grimm type. These were the factors that ended the poor lad's life."

Qrow grimaced, the idea of having your brain melted was horrendous, and painful sounding. Yet it didn't connect back to Brutus, he didn't use acid, or poison.

"During the rescue, in compliance with regulations, voice recorders were activated within the rescuing bull-heads passenger compartment."

Qrow knew about them, they were in place so that if the vehicle was destroyed, the recorders would provide some insight as to what destroyed them.

They hardly recorded anything of use, but they were there nonetheless.

"This is a snippet of what was recorded." Ozpin continued, holding up a small device.

 _"It's not your fault."_

Qrow recognized the voice as Brutus's, the deep rumble and the powerful bass to it were as damning as fingerprints.

But why did this matter? Nothing was making any sense.

"After the first intrusion into the vault, I had aural receptors implanted into the columns here. Shortly before I arrived, some kind of electrical interference destroyed the microphones, sort of like a short-wave EMP. However, before they were destroyed, the Aural receptors picked up an _intense_ amount of static. After I had James recover the audio files, I had him unscramble the static. This is what was recorded."

At first, when Ozpin played the sound, only static came through, the white noise a little bothersome to Qrow.

"I don't hear anything, Oz."

"Listen harder Qrow."

Qrow did, and slowly, ever so quietly, he was able to make out a voice.

 _"This place looked a lot different the last time I was here."_

 _"Please! Get me out of here!"_

The first voice was deep and full of bass, dull of power. Qrow couldn't believe his ears, the voice definitely belonged to his nephew. The second sounded much like Amber did when she was alive. There was no doubt that Brutus was here, talking to Amber, and Brutus had said he had been here before.

"Do you understand what this means Qrow?"

Qrow didn't reply, too stunned to answer. Brutus had been talking to Amber, Brutus had been there when Amber was taken, he had been a part of it.

But why? If what Ozpin had said earlier was true, Salem had attempted to assassinate Brutus earlier, so why would Brutus help her?!?

 _"It's not your fault."_

Those words suddenly took on a darker tone. Brutus had said that, he had said that it wasn't someone's fault, because it was his, because he knew that the attempt on his life was a warning, Salem knew he had been in contact with Amber, she had known, and had threatened to kill him if he didn't cooperate.

But Brutus wouldn't have caved like that, the boy was as stubborn as he was strong, and even the threat of killing his peers probably wouldn't have moved him much, he already viewed them as his 'lessers.'

Unless Salem had threatened his family.

But Brutus wasn't stupid, he would have told Qrow about it, and the last time Qrow talked to Brutus, all he seemed concerned about was continuing his work...

Something clicked inside Qrow's mind, an unseen connection finally being revealed.

Brutus wasn't killed because he had been talking to Amber, he was killed because of what he had been working on.

"You've got it wrong Oz." Qrow said finally. "Brutus may have been talking to Amber, but that wasn't why he was killed."

Ozpin sighed, his hand rubbing the side of his head. "I know it's hard to accept, Qrow, but Brutus obviously bartered Amber for his life, but was ultimately killed anyway."

Qrow grabbed hold of Ozpin's shoulders. "Listen to me Oz! Brutus was always working on something, something big, it was all he ever wanted to do, all he was ever concerned with. He was willing to throw away everything for this one thing, hhis career, his education, his very _life_ all for whatever it was he was working on!"

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "And you think whatever it was he was working on was important enough to kill him over?"

"Yes! It had to have been! It all makes sense, Brutus taking Amber, the disappearing acts, the assassination attempt, it all connects!"

Ozpin pushed Qrow away, wiping the mans spit off his face. "Okay, say I understand, so what was it he was always working on?"

Qrow turned away from Ozpin, gesturing for the headmaster to follow. "I don't know, but his girlfriend spent every waking moment with him, if he was working on something, she'll know."

(@)

Bun-Bun Violetta was not a stupid girl, despite appearances and what the other girls would say. She knew that her keeping the things Brutus worked on so diligently from his family would one day come back to bite her in the ass, possibly with fatal consequences. She knew that the things her late boyfriend had created were far beyond her comprehension, as much of what he done was. He was a mysterious man, full of secrets and dark tidings, much like his creations.

She had seen the things he was capable of, and no matter how in love with him she was, they still sent a shiver down her spine. She feared what would happen to her if she ever betrayed him.

She knew, by dust, she knew what that book of his held. It held terrible things, truths that no one could know, things no one _should_ know, rites and passages so horrible to comprehend that she had nightmares from it.

It spoke of evil things, of observers in the dark that edged human perception, of base horrid things that mocked sentience with their own cruel facsimile of thought.

It spoke of a kingdom, where he was king, and how these things paid him homage.

Yes, it spoke of dark things.

So why couldn't she stop reading it?

(@)

Qrow opened the door slowly, his knocks having gone un-answered. Ozpin came behind him, waiting impatiently.

He was halfway through the door when he saw her.

Her head was buried in some book, her eyes scanning the pages through teary rivers of blood. Her mouth opened and closed, the end of her tongue hanging on by a thread of flesh from where she had bit it off. Her ears were matted to her hair, stuck to her scalp with thick ropes of filth.

She turned to him, her face pleading with him to make it stop.

" _Savickas!_ She whispered.

Qrow gasped as the force of the word hit him, falling to his knees as Ozpin rushed past him.

"Stop!" Ozpin shouted, his hand slamming the book closed. "Stop saying that!"

His _Name!_ " Bun-Bun wailed. " _His name is Savickas!"_

Qrow felt his ears pop, and hot liquid rush down the side of his face. Agony lanced through his mind, like hot white metal being pressed directly into his brain. The walls of the room rumbled, their foundations shaking as cracks lanced their ways across the surface.

Furniture flew in every direction with explosive results.

"Stop! For the love of the brothers stop!"

"His name! By dust his name! I can't get it out of my head! Make it stop! Make the voices stop!" She cried.

Finally, with a great exhale of air, and her connection to the aether severed, she fell silent and still.

Qrow rose groggily to his feet, his head pounding as he shakily grabbed Ozpin.

"What...the...fuck..was that!" He shouted.

Ozpin looked at Qrow with wide eyes, fear plastered on his face for the first time since Qrow knew him.

"The first death...thay's what she was saying...the first death." Ozpin swallowed. "Call the infirmary, get her down there!"

As Qrow gathered up the girl, Ozpin gathered the book in his hands, trying his best to keep it shut.

"We have to hurry! This book could be the answer Qrow! It could be the key to where Amber is!"

As Qrow ran through the halls, a bloodied girl in his hands, he damned well hoped so.

 ** _A/N_**

 ** _Done. Also, no wifi, so chapters are slooooow._**


	29. Priced Knowledge

Amber sighed as she scanned over the report in her hand. Outpost six had been attacked and completely destroyed, all personnel were confirmed dead when the investigation team had landed after the outpost had missed its check-ins.

"Are you sure there were no survivors?" Amber asked, silently glad for the mask hiding her stricken face.

"Of the fifteen auxiliaries stationed there, all fifteen were identified and accounted for." The messenger who had brought her report stated.

"Do we have any idea who attacked us?"

"No, mistress, we do not."

Amber sighed again, a hollow feeling in her gut. Fifteen auxiliaries dead. Fifteen men and women who just wanted to serve their time in the army and be done with it. Too old to train as a huntsman, too young to get out of service.

The thought that most of them probably had families just made an already bitter pill that much harder to swallow.

"Send word to the Legionaires, I want two full squads geared up and ready to go, their orders are to investigate the site and pursue any leads as to who attacked us."

The messenger bowed. "Yes, mistress."

After the messenger scurried off, Amber leaned forward in the throne, her head reresting in her hands. "Dust..." She swore. "This never gets any easier."

A side door to the throne room opened, and Amber scowled as she felt a familiar presence enter the room.

"Oh dear Amber." Shar mocked. "The pressures of being a ruler getting to you?"

Amber bit her lip to keep herself from snapping at the girl, her mood soured beyond repair at this point. "Shar, I'm really not in the mood right now."

Shar pranced around to the backside of the throne, her movements graceful and eloquent to an inhuman degree. "My, my, my...You sound stressed. Anything I can do to help?"

"You could fuck off."

Amber laughed, her head throwing itself back as her chest heaved. "Anything besides that? I can give you a massage, if you'd like?"

Amber shivered, the prospect of feeling those _divine_ hands was tempting, but she shuddered when she remembered who they belonged to.

"The High Regent and an Imperial Princess intertwined on the kings throne? How scandalous." Amber said. "Here I was thinking about renting out a private room at _The Rosy Cheek_?"

She actually had thought about it. Going to the most premier brothel in the city and renting out a private suite for her own personal _party._ She had entertained the idea only as a _'what if'_ prospect, never fully intending to go there. It would be, in her own words _, scandalous._

"Surely one as high-born as you eouldn't dream of mixing with the common-folk in such a way? We could always have the a few of the younger members of the Scarlet Guard join us in my private chambers, think about it, you and me, back to back, surrounded by young, strong, virile men. On our knees only part the time, and never having to do any of the actual work? Why, I'm sure that they would spend a long time making sure you were air-tight."

Amber shivered again, a pleasurable chill arcing up her spine. She was imagining it, and it was enticing...

How long had it been for her anyway? Certainly not longer than a month.

Two months.

Six?

A year?

Three years?!

She shook her head, disrupting the thoughts running through her head. "No, Shar. The Scarlet Guard are warriors, their jobs are to ensure the security of the outer palace, not fulfill our desires."

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind~"

Amber slapped her hand against the throne. "I said no, Shar. Do not make me say it again."

Shar huffed, her arms crossing over her chest as she stuck her tongue out at Amber. For an Imperial Princess, Shar sure could be a child sometimes.

"Fine then. Refuse my help. I just wanted to help you get laid but noooo, you have to play by the rules, consider other people and all that."

Amber giggled, her finger pointing mirthfully at the princess. "And that is why you will never be High Regent."

Shar blew Amber a raspberry, before disappearing down a hall leading deeper into the palace.

Amber chuckled as she slumped in her seat. The stress of the day temporarily alleviated.

Shar was right, rare as it was, but Amber could not act on such carnal desires, not when she was responsible for her kings most prized Kingdom.

(@)

Ozpin held the steel shod book in front of him, his eyes scanning over the smooth, shiny surface, his reflection doing the same. His fingers shook as he opened the cover, the memory of what happened to Miss Violetta fresh in his mind, and with a trembling hand he opened the first page.

 _'For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every decision made, there is one that is not taken._

 _For every Happenstance, a consequence._

 _This is universally true, in more ways than I originally had perceived, alongside those I had once thought of as my peers, which now I recognize as my lessers._

 _It was upon the discovery of the girl, Bun-Bun, that I realized that while this was universally true, its opposite was as well._

 _These two contradictory statements, canceling out eachother are both true. I had, at first, only manipulated the physical world using the immaterial one, the prospect of reversing that process never occurring to me in my studies._

 _If I could create, could I also manipulate?_

 _It was during the creation of the twins that I had asked myself a rather perplexing question. As I was creating their bones, shaping their brains and filling their hearts, I asked myself it again._

 _What is the power of steel?_

 _Steel, by any account, is the most useful metal on Remnant. Used in buildings, construction, weapons, medical technology and a myriad of other things._

 _The twins themselves were hugely successful, their seek and destroy properties slaved to my orders created a potent pair of assassins. I formed them from steel and stone, and they were very powerful indeed._

 _Steel is powerful, and by itself it holds so much potential._

 _Upon deliberating further, I realized that it was only that. Potential. Whenever I spoke to one of the survivors from the crash, she was defiant, even in the face of death. Such a will after so much pain was surely powerful in itself, and had she a weapon, she likely would have tried to defend herself. Yet she refused to take the weapon I offered her, sitting as it was in my outstretched hand, motionless and useless. It was after her death that I realized that steel could do nothing but rust and tarnish on its own, it was only the hand of mankind that allowed it to fulfill its purpose._

 _So what was the power of steel compared to the hand that wielded it?_

 _Thus began my experiments in the flesh.'_

Ozpin read the entry over and over again, his aged mind trying to seek out the words behind those written on the page. None of it made sense, a recurring theme when it came to Brutus Rose.

However, while not much was clear about the reclusive young man, the fact that he was a prodigy was all but assured. He obviously held a deeper, philosophical and metaphysical thought process than most students his age.

To see such a mind snuffed out was truly a tragedy. He was a bright young man, and his future was a bright one indeed.

Ozpin continued to read.

 _'My first experiments were on myself. Inside my armor, I am a walking goliath, all but unassailable, outside of it however, I was as fleshy and brittle as any of my fellow students. I needed to ensure that my will was as indomitable and strong as that armor._ _So I entered the sparring arena, brought out every training bot in stock, and removed the safety limiters._ _A terrifying prospect,and by all rights I should have been shredded, and my life ended there. Yet that was not my fate. I persevered on, despite the shots that impacted against my Aura, despite the blades that skittered off my own. I persevered, and triumphed._ _My aura never broke, the aggression of my attacks making me too much of a target for the bots to properly unite to destroy me, I kept them scattered, unable to fully come together to form one body of steel and wiring._ _Upon my victory, I had found an answer._ _My flesh was stronger than their steel._ _I was quite happy with the answer, the flesh being stronger than steel gave me a sort of confidence in my compatriots that wasn't there before._ _It was at the discovery of Amber that I realized I was wrong._ _Amber was, by all accounts, doomed. Her body had entered into a coma of sorts, brought on by the attack that tore her asunder from the better portion of her powers. It was this rather barbaric practice of psychic surgery that rendered her unconscious, the shock of having her mind and body so violated had scrambled her thoughts deep into her subconscious. The removal of the maiden powers had disrupted her to the point where her body had entered into a state of total shutdown._ _When I found her, her physical body was being kept alive through a machine, and her mind was trapped in a realm created by her own trauma and fear._ _The action of suspending her in a state of un-death had quite the consequence. What happens in the material world, affects its counterpart._ _Reviving her was a simple matter, in theory at least._ _Her body had no soul, so it was dying. Reunification of the flesh and mind should solve the problem._ _Only how to bring them back together?_

 _I examined both her spectral projection and her physical shell, still sheathed in its steel cocoon._ _I realized that this presented yet another problem to my earlier philosophical musings._ _Her flesh had failed, and it was the steel of the machine that kept her alive_. _The idea that the flesh was stronger than steel was a false one. They are both equally infallible and weak._ _Steel rusts, but flesh withers and fades._ _So what truly was the power behind both?_ _In a snap, I realized that my earliest manipulations of stone had pointed out the answer all along._ _It was the will to use the flesh and steel that gave them power. Steel rusts and flesh rots, but the will is forever._ _I was soon able to revive Amber, by repairing her psyche and will, her mind reunited with her body, two halves forming a whole._ _Amber lived again, although truthfully, she had never truly died._ _A state she would have never been in had she been given the proper security befitting her station.'_

A dull ring sounded in the air and Ozpin jumped in his seat, the elevator doors hissing open scaring him out of his reverie. Qrow walked into his office, his head sunk low.

"Qrow, I was just about to call you. Your nephew was a brilliant young man, his philosophical deliberations are astounding!" Ozpin smiled despite himself, the situation of the girl in the infirmary being shoved to the back of his mind.

"How can you even read that? You saw what happened to Brutus's girlfriend, she was like a scene straight out of a horror movie!" Qrow yelled. "We need to take that book and destroy it!"

"No! While it is tragic that miss Violetta is in such a poor condition, this book, no matter its danger, is too valuable to destroy. It talks of how he did it Qrow! How Brutus brought back Amber!"

"Her condition?!" Qrow stammered, his voice fringing on full blown screaming. " Oz! She's...She's.." Qrow didn't finish.

Ozpin didn't need him to, he got the implication. "She's dead, isn't she?"

Qrow shook his head. "No, but the doctor's can't stabilize her, and she keeps screaming something about a kingdom."

Ozpin slumped in his chair, a loud sigh issuing from his mouth. "A kingdom? Which kingdom?"

Qrow shrugged, before gesturing to the book. "You need to be careful Oz. Whatever it was that she read, it hurt her, bad enough for her to bite her own tongue off in an attempt to keep her from repeating it. Whoever wrote that thing had to have been crazy."

The headmaster grimaced. "I know Brutus wrote it Qrow, and it details his experiments, as well as his inner musings."

"Really now?" Qrow shook his head. He didn't believe Brutus wrote it, not for a second. Brutus may have _been...Eccentric_ , but even he wouldn't write something so vile. "Is knowing what is in that book really worth all the risk?"

"Yes, it is. Knowledge is power, Qrow, and if we read this, we might just figure out who killed Brutus."

 ** _A/N:_** ** _Not too happy with this chapter. Not at all._** ** _Please, for the love of all that is good, REVIEW._**


	30. Seeking Answers

The world around her shifted and stirred, great mounds of corpses rose far beyond crimson clouds. Rivers of blood carved great wounds in the raw flesh that made up the mockery of that was the ground. Skeletons, their meat being pinched and pulled off and cast aside wandered the landscape, crude spears formed from their kinsmen screamed in agony as they were plunged into the rivers, squirming brains being pulled out and devoured with gnashing, gum-less teeth.

Amber stared on in a state of complete calm, despite the dread and horror she felt inside. Long robes made of thick strips of flayed flesh hung from her body. Her hair done in elaborate styles and held in place with sharpened bones. Her skin was immaculate, all her scars and blemishes washed away in a shower of arterial blood. Upon her head sat a crown made of bone, a leering skull with blazing eyes set in the center.

Thick ropes of intestines gathered upon the ground, their mutilated and pulsing ends swaying hypnotically before snapping up the livers that hopped upon thin strings of muscle. Hearts hung from trees made of veins, their thick bodies pulsating grotesquely as they pumped gore into their hosts. Faces grew from bloody mushroom stalks, their mouths hung open in shrieking agony and mouthing blasphemous phrases.

Further along the valley of flesh, men with malformed heads danced around a skinned and crying infant.

"Save us! Save us!" They chanted, over and over. Their circle closing until they trampled the infant into a bloody pulp.

"Save us! Save us!" They chanted again, a larger and more ornamented of their number holding up another infant above the baying masses, its fingers curled into the baby's back, burying into the skin before tearing it off in a shower of crimson. The infant was tossed upon the twitching corpse of its predecessor, and the dancing began anew.

Red lightning flashed in the sky, its thunderous noise driving the men into cover to escape its wrath. The clouds parted, revealing a massive eyeball, scarlet streaks leading to a blackened iris. It rolled back and forth, black tears falling from it and crashing against the ground. Huge clawed appendages burst forth from the mountains of corpses, gathering up the skeletons who were too slow to escape in great sweeping strikes. The appendages reared up, stuffing the skeletons into a huge fang-toothed maw that chewed sloppily, ground bone dripping from cracked and split lips.

Amber stood and watched it all happen, an indifferent expression upon her face, however her mind reeled at such disgusting sights, her emotions running rampant as she fought against the invisible binds that held her in place.

None of the denizens of this hellish realm noticed her, going about their business without so much as a glance.

Finally, she broke free, falling to one knee as she retched and dry heaved.

"Wh-What is this place?" She stammered out. Her hand wiping spit from her chin.

"The Kingdoms. Or rather, a stylized interpretation of them."

The voice came from behind her, and it rang familiarly in her ears. She turned, her eyes widening as she beheld her king.

"Brutus." She said, dropping to one knee. "My king."

He sat upon a rock, the ground around him clean and pristine, clashing greatly with the fleshy muck that pervaded on everything else.

He was naked, outside of the armor that had been so inimical to his presence. A strip of cloth hung from his waist, protecting his modesty. His body bulged with muscle, huge cords of knotted power visible through the skin.

She drank in his appearance, having never seen him outside of his armor. She felt a burning desire inside of her spring to life as she beheld the one she so admired.

He bit into an apple, the dull crunch bringing her out of her reverie.

"All of this." He gestured out to the horror around them. "Is just a visual of the kingdom's practices." He took another bite of the apple, juice running down his chin.

"Atlas." He pointed to the eye in the sky. "With its ever present malignance and never ending hunger for more bodies to fuel itself."

"And Vale." He swept his arm out to the carnage before them. "Never fighting back, never building itself up, content to mill around and exist for the uses of other kingdom's"

Finally, he pointed to the men surrounding the infants. "The huntsmen academies, stripping the youth of their fervor and honor, and building each generation upon the deaths and glories of the last."

Amber shook her head. Tears flowing from her eyes. "This isn't real? It's all an illusion?"

"It's an illusion, yes, but a necessary one." Brutus said, tossing the apple behind him and crossing his arms. "For you to understand the...why..of things."

"Why am I a part of it!? This is disgusting! Unholy! I had nothing to do with this!"

"But you did. You were the unperceived queen. Guardian to all that occurred within Vale." He rose off of the rock, and walked toward her. "But you are a part of that chaos no longer."

Instantly, the nightmarish world vanished, replaced by the throne room they spoke in last time. Her fleshy attire was replaced with the robes that she wore regularly to bed. She flushed as she realized she wasn't wearing any underwear, usually just sleeping in the robe to ward off the chill of the stone palace.

"Brutus..." She whispered. "How am I here? I never entered the Ocularum Segmenta. How are we speaking?"

I brought you here, Amber." He said, sinking into his throne. "I grow in power, soon, I will be able to return."

Amber's eyes lit up, her feet scurrying to the side of the throne. "You'll be able to return to the kingdom soon?" She said excitedly. "Back to m...Us?"

She blushed when she almost let her slip up escape, biting her lip to keep her from saying anything else.

"Yes, Amber. I will soon return to _Jaccar."_ _"Jaccar?_ " Amber said questioningly, her eyebrow raising.

Brutus Chuckled. "It means Strength in the old language, and I can't keep calling it the kingdom forever."

His chuckle died in his throat however, and his trademark frown rose again to the surface.

"Despite such grand news, I am troubled." He said, his head coming to rest on one meaty fist.

"What bothers you?" Amber asked, her hand coming to rest on his arm. "Tell me and I can fix it."

"You can not fix this. My previous...Concubine, has read a passage from my book, specifically one detailing the name of a _very...reptilian_ friend of mine. She uttered her name, believing it to be mine. Her mind was not prepared nor expecting the psychic surge of energy associated with the name, and she has been...shattered."

"Shattered?" Amber asked, her heart falling into her stomach at the news.

"Yes, shattered. Her psyche is now at war with her memory, and it is causing a great rift between the two. The condition itself will dissipate over time, but the wounds she inflicted upon herself may have been too great."

"I...see." She sighed. "Is there any hope that she can recover?"

Brutus let out a lungfull of air. His body sinking into his throne. "Perhaps, but she will have repressed her memories associated with the name, and since she thought it was my name.."

"She will have forgotten about you.." Amber finished somberly.

"Yes, unfortunately. Her body may have been influenced by the power of the name as well, but how, I don't know."

Amber sighed, moving to stand in front of Brutus. Her heart beat in her chest, the weight of what she was about to do was pushing heavily on her shoulders.

Could she really do this after he had just lost someone so close to him? Was she rushing it? Would he cast her aside after this?

She didn't know, and that terrified her.

"Amber, are you alright?"

Her terror must have shown through, Brutus's voice snapping her out of her stupor. She swallowed as she met his gaze, her heart fluttering in her chest.

"Y-Yes...There is something."

"Well tell me what it is, you have shown great loyalty and faith, so I believe you have earned the right to bring your troubles to me." Brutus said, regarding her with his trademark frown.

"S-Since my lord is without a c-c-concubine, perhaps he would enjoy a-a..."

She shuddered as she undid the clasp holding her robes together, the cold air of the room hitting her skin as she bared her form before her.

"A-a Queen..." She finished finally, her face beet red.

Brutus raised an eyebrow, but she could see his eyes roaming over her body, taking in every detail.

He said nothing, and Amber began to panic internally. Had he rejected her offer? Had she come on too strong? Oh dust, she had said Queen, he probably thought she was wanting to do this to cement her power.

A few tense seconds passed, before Brutus stood off of his throne, and embraced her in a lustful grasp.

 ** _A/N:_** ** _Whoever left that review, that long ass one, thanks. I have been fretting over my writing like nobody's business. I understand that people want more, but I want to improve on my writing, so I need a bit to go off of._** ** _But seriously, thank you to the guest that left that review. It really raised my spirits._** ** _I re-read the last chapter before this one, and I have to say, it was atrocious. the philosophical parts were all run ons and I had some continuity errors, likely from me writing it at 4 am, so I will be going back to fix that._** ** _As always, Review and Fav. Peace._**


	31. Dreams

Yang yawned as she fought against the lure of sleep. Her professor's boisterous voice a distant echo against the backdrop of sound. She closed her eyes for only a second, if only to relieve the weight of her eyelids for a moment.

(@)

 _The grass was soft underneath her, the sun pouring down onto her face felt amazing. She sat up against the bark of a tree, smiling as she watched Ruby run around happily, Zwei chasing her._

 _Her dad was kneeling in his garden, tending to his sunflowers. The smell of fresh baked cookies wafted through the air, the heavenly voice of her mother echoing through the home._

 _Uncle Qrow sat on the porch, passed out in a rocking chair as he snored._

 _It was perfect, absolutely perfect._

 _No..._

 _No. Something was missing, something was wrong. Something was very wrong!_

 _Yang's eyes were drawn to the distant tree line. Her breath hitching in her throat as she did._

 _A figure stood at the tree line, just beyond the border. Clouded eyes stared back at her, blood coating one side of its face. It stood tall, its imposing figure silhouetted against the trees._

 _It took one lumbering step forward._

 _The sky darkened, the grass around her withered and died, the tree at her back became covered in blight. The cabin her and her family shared became grey and mottled, groaning as the strength was sapped from its timbers._

 _It took another step._

 _The sky wept bloody tears, stinging and sizzling where they met with her skin. She heard Ruby cry out, Zwei whimpering as the figure approached closer and closer._

 _"Yang?" She heard Ruby squeak. The sound was so quiet, like she had gained a huge amount of distance from her sister._

 _She ignored her. Tears running down her cheeks as she ran towards the figure, her arms open wide._

 _She kept running, the space between her and the figure seeming to grow the closer she got._

 _Something red rose behind the figure, its curved blade winding back for a beheading strike._

 _"Behind you!" She called out desperately._

 _The figure turned, one arm stopping the blade as the figure pushed back against the shadowy assassin._

 _Yang pumped her legs harder, her joyful run breaking out into a panicked sprint. She had to get there, she had to help him. They were almost together again, she had to save him._

 _She ran as hard as she could, but seemed to go nowhere._

 _"Yang!" She heard Ruby say again, but she was so quiet, so far away._

 _The struggle between the two figures continued, the shadow on the back foot until it swept under the others blows and drug its blade across the back of his knees._

 _He fell to the ground, his face contorted with pain._

 _Yang pressed herself harder, desperation taking over her mind._

 _The shadowy assassin raised its blade._

 _It turned its head to regard her._

 _"Too late, Yang."_

 _In a flash, it brought the sword down on her brother._

 _"NO!" Yang screamed, her hand reaching out. "BRUTUS!"_

 _"YANG"_

 _(@)_

Yang awoke with a start, sweat running down her face. She slammed herself upright, wide eyes blurred with tears ran frantically across the room.

"Yang?" Ruby whispered, her hand on her sister's shoulder. "You okay?"

Yang met her sisters worried eyes, she gulped, her mouth dry.

"Yeah." She croaked. "Yeah, I'm fine"

Ruby didn't look like she believed her, but she nodded anyway. Weiss stood behind her with her ever present scowl oon her face, saying something about paying attention and not falling asleep in class. Blake looked at Yang with a neutral expression, but Yang could see the concern in her eyes.

"You really should wake up, Yang. You're going to make us late to lunch." Weiss snapped.

"Yeah." Yang replied breathlessly. " Sorry about that."

(@)

Lunch was an unwelcome affair, her nightmare had not only sapped her of her happiness, but her appetite as well. Where Yang had eaten with gust before, she now rolled a grape around on her plate. Weiss had watched her for the whole lunch hour, her temper slowly boiling.

First, she had fallen asleep in class, then she wouldn't wake up, now she wouldn't eat. What was wrong with this girl? Did she not care that they were at a prestigious academy with their entire careers on the line?!

"Alright, spill it Xaio Long, who's Brutus? Some boy you liked but ran away with another girl?"

"Weiss, stop." Ruby pleaded from beside the heiress. "Don't do this."

"Absolutely not! She has been nothing but a burden recently and I want to know why!"

"Weiss, please, it's personal." Ruby continued.

Weiss turned to regard Ruby with a scowl. "Personal, is it? Well when it affects the entire team, I believe that makes it not personal!" The irate heiress switched her face back to Yang. "So tell me,Yang. Why do you scream that boy's name in your sleep? What was he to you?"

Yang didn't hear her, too focused on other things to really care.

"Weiss, that's enough!" Blake admonished from beside her partner. "That isn't your business!"

"Well when it affects my schedule, it becomes my business!" The heiress locked eyes with Blake, the two glaring daggers at eachother. Blake hated when Weiss got like this, she just couldn't leave others alone, could she? Inwardly, Blake seethed at the subject, knowing what it was like to lose someone close, the feeling of loss never fully healed, the hole that was left in your heart never truly filled.

"He was our brother." Ruby answered solemnly, her eyes downcast as she played with her thumbs.

Weiss turned to Ruby, eyebrow raised. "Your brother?" She asked, her voice edged with annoyance. "Really, that's it?"

"Yeah, he went to Signal with Yang." Ruby said, her eyes still not meeting the heiress's baleful gaze.

"And he went to a different academy?" The heiress asked, obviously not satisfied with the answer. "Is that what's been bothering you Xaio Long? You can't see your brother?" She mocked.

"Weiss, Brutus didn't go to a different school, he was murdered."

Instantly, the Schnee's face fell, her hands coming together in her lap awkwardly.

"Oh. I'm...Sorry."

"It's okay, you didn't know." Ruby forgave her instantly, the girl not having a vengeful bone in her body.

The Schnee looked down in shame, her eyes downcast. She knew the pain of losing family too, but never someone as close as a brother. If she lost Winter, she didn't know what she would do.

"Was he...Was he killed by the White Fang?"

Ruby shook her head, before taking in a shaky breath. "They never found out who killed him, he was always disappearing for days at a time, always working on something. One day, someone called uncle Qrow, saying that he was killed in a fight with some bad people."

"So it could have been the white fang?"

Blake interjected. "Just because he was murdered doesn't mean it was the white fang."

"Her brother was murdered. The white fang murder. I'm not saying it was the white fang, I'm just saying that they are prime suspects." Weiss shot back. It made perfect sense to her, the white fang leaned towards the more violent methods of change, killing an up and coming huntsman would have been a powerful political statement.

"I doubt that it was them, to be honest." Ruby shrugged. "Brutus looked weird, in the past, some people mistook him for a faunus, despite the fact he was human, and to top it all off, he was dating a faunus girl at the time."

"See, Brutus wasn't a bigot, so they wouldn't have had any reason to go against him." Blake jeered.

"They don't employ a lot of reason anyways, Belladonna."

Ruby interrupted before the argument could escalate. "It wasn't the fang, Brutus was an amazing fighter, it would take more than a few measly white fang to take him down."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Numbers can overwhelm, Ruby."

Ruby smiled, remembering the training videos of her brother that her dad would send her. "Nope!" She said happily. "Not with Brutus. As my dad once said, he's as tough as a rock and smiles half as much! Here, I have some training vids of him from my dad, I watch them when I miss him."

Ruby pulled out her scroll, and after browsing through her gallery, which was filled with a suspicious amount of pictures of her and Jaune, she pulled up a video.

"My goodness. Look at him go." Weiss exclaimed, obviously surprised.

"Yeah. He's amazing." Blake agreed, though not at all focused on the fighting.

The video was of Brutus in the sparring arena, surrounded by droids as he whirled through them like a hurricane. He was shirtless, his massive upper body bare and sweaty. A droid rushed him from the side, its arms being severed in the same spinning motion that decapitated it a second later.

Weiss watched with interest, noting the amazing display of martial skill. She had to admit, Ruby's brother was amazing, especially at such a young age. She watched as he ducked a shot from the crowd, his weapon sweeping the legs out from the crowd of metal that surrounded him. When he came back up, he stepped on the reinforced leg of a heavier droid, the movement looked effortless, but the way the knee snapped backwards hinted at the force behind the strike.

Blake watched the way his body moved. He flowed with such definition and power, his movements precise and brutal, yet masterful and beautiful. His weapon had to have weighed an enormous amount given its size, not to mention what it looked to be made of.

"Is that sword made of stone?" Blake questioned. "How is he even able to lift it? It's huge!"

Ruby shrugged again. "I don't know, as my dad said, the boy's got muscles on his muscles' muscles."

"Yeah...I can see that." Blake said, committing the images to memory.

The video ended and Ruby brought up a picture, this time of Brutus in his armor.

"Dust! How could he even move in that!" Weiss exclaimed, her mouth agape at the sheer bulk of the protective equipment.

"This was Brutus's actual weapon, a suit of armor, if he was inside it, he was untouchable."

Blake eyed the picture, noticing the blackened sections along the armor. "Why are these spots so dark?" She asked, pointing to the offending sections.

"I don't know, Brutus's armor had these weird lines of letters that would glow and move, I don't know what they did, but he designed them. They mess with cameras for some reason, overexposure or something."

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about Brutus Rose, would you?" Pyrrha interjected from the side of the table, team JNPR looking on in mild interest.

"Yeah, Pyr. Did you know him?" Ruby asked, tucking away her scroll in her uniform.

Pyrrha chuckled, shaking her head. "Not personally, no. We never met, but I knew of him. He was supposed to fight in the Vytal tournament junior leagues, right?"

"Yeah! Dad got him to sign up, although." Ruby sighed heavily before continuing. "He never got to participate in it."

Pyrrha nodded grimly, her mouth set in a thin line. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Silence permeated the table for a brief second before Pyrrha picked up the social slack.

"I knew him from the tournaments, I had investigated the rosters for strong opponents, most were challenging, but not all that intimidating, really. Yet when I saw him..." Pyrrha trailed off.

"He scared you." Ruby finished for her, shrugging as she did so. "Brutus had two effects on people, they either feared him, or became infatuated with him."

Pyrrha giggled, hiding her mouth behind her hand. "Infatuated?" She said, chuckling lightly.

"Oh yes, infatuation. Yang tells me that it got so bad, that at one point a couple girls got in a fist fight over him, right in front of his room." Ruby laughed.

"I bet he wasn't happy about that." Blake said, laughing at the prospect of two girls fighting over a teenage boy.

"Nope! He kicked the door off its hinges and yelled at them both. Brutus may have had the strength of a rock, but he had the patience of a wet hornet, especially when people interrupted his work."

"His work?" Weiss questioned. "What was it he was working on?"

Ruby shrugged. "I don't know, but that's all he ever cared about, he always said that it was very important."

Weiss and Blake looked at eachother, both raising their eyebrows as a silent question passed between them.

"Tell us more." They both said, much to Ruby's joy.

(@)

Yang ignored the conversation taking place along the rest of the table, too focused on trying to decipher the dream she had.

 _'What was that?'_ She thought. Even when she had first learned of her brother's death she had never had dreams that intense, so what had set her off now?

She felt so tired, so exhausted. The brief nap she had sapped her of her energy, and she could feel a migraine coming on.

Here she was, at one of the most prestigious academies in Vale, and she was having nightmares like a child.

Brutus should have been here, laughing and grumbling alongside them.

Yet he was gone, and his killer was out there doing who knows what.

That's probably what was bothering her, her brother's murderer was still running amok out there somewhere, and her brother's ghost unable to rest because of it.

Her brothers killer had to be brought to justice.

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _Yeah boi, I'm back._**

 ** _Yang is getting vengeful about her brother, after two years of mourning. Brutus is getting some maiden on the side, and things start to build._**


	32. Tying up loose ends

Concrete and dust filtered noisily from the handholds that were punched into the walls surface, heavy metal fingers working their way into the cracks.

Praetorian Alpha-9, designation ' _Cannibal'_ hauled itself over the lip of the wall, its angled faceplate scanning for any would-be witnesses to its intrusion.

Finding none, it took off at a speed that belied its size. Servos whirring as it jumped over the final lip of the wall and plummeted into the icy water of the channel below.

Instantly the Praetorian sank, its massive bulk dragging it down to the crushing depths. Its armor groaning under the pressure. Lights filtered up from its face plate, scanning the darkness around it.

Schools of fish swam about frantically, temporarily disturbed by the metal intruders entry into their world of darkness.

It took heavy steps forward, sand and dirt kicking up in its wake as it waded through the muck.

The lights on its head scanned for any grimm in its immediate proximity while its armor's sensors tested the water for breaks in established current patterns.

It lumbered on for some time, its movements slowed by the weight of the water crushing down on it. It scanned the darkness ahead of it, visual optics focusing on the schools of bright colored fish that wandered near it to inspect the Praetorian. Somewhere, deep inside its core, it felt a twinge of an unknown cause as it observed these small creatures, their lithe and beautiful bodies fluttering effortlessly to and fro.

Their forms were not entirely perfect, many lacking defensive and offensive means, but their bodies were still to be appreciated in a way that it could not fathom.

Cannibal was interrupted in its musings as it came upon a sea wall, the other side of the channel it surmised. It punched its hands into the brittle muck, and began its ascent.

It climbed its way out of the water, the icy liquid running off its brutish body in thick rivers that slid soundlessly into the cliff face. Cannibal was close now, the lights shining above the cliffs edge told it exactly where it needed to go.

Cannibal hauled itself over the lip of the cliff with little effort, its aetherically powered servos humming with little effort. It swept its boxy rifle across the open ground where it had emerged. Ahead of it, the gothic spires of Beacon Academy loomed, their dark countenance silhouetted by the shattered moon that bathed the Praetorian in its light.

Cannibal crept closer to the school, its aural perceptors straining for the slightest sound.

Entering through a side door used by janitorial staff, it began its mission.

Cannibal had to move slowly, its bulk ill-suited for the mission that it had been given. The lights that had illuminated the water when it had crossed the channel were dim and unpowered now, the hallway lit by flickering industrial lights that hung from the ceiling on thin strips of wire.

Cannibal stopped, its huge body grinding to a halt. It heard something, the panicked rush of breath, the rapid beating of a heart.

No. Two hearts.

Cannibal leaned around the corner, its blank faceplate staring into the hall beyond.

Two students were entangled in a mess of limbs halfway down the hall, the loving sighs and whispers being what the praetorian had heard before.

There was a door labeled ' _Droid Storage'_ across the hall, and Cannibal rushed the door and slung it open. Its mind quickly deciding that this was the best course of action. It had briefly considered killing the students, but its orders were absolute.

Cannibal was not here to kill.

The door slammed shut behind Cannibal, the resultant noise jolting the two lovers out of their mutual stupor.

"What was that?" The female asked. Her eyes widening with worry. "Do you think someone saw us? Was it the headmaster?"

"No, it was probably just some janitor." The male assured her. "Now where were we?" He said seductively.

The girl held up her hand, stopping his lips against her palm. "Nuh-uh, Mr. Macho, I don't want some pervy old guy getting an eyefull of us, you go check it out, then we'll see about continuing."

The boy sighed, rolling his eyes. "Fine." He said.

Inside the room, Cannibal felt something very akin to panic in its core as it scrambled to find a place to hide.

There were no boxes, no side closets, nothing but row upon row of practice droids.

The door behind it creaked open, and it made one hasty decision.

Pulling a droid from the rack, Cannibal laid it on its side and assumed its position.

"See." Cannibal heard the boy say to his mate in the hall. "It was nothing, just a couple of practice droids that fell off their racks."

Cannibal's side jolted as the boy kicked it, muttering as he did so. "Can't believe I got cock-blocked by a glorified engine block." He said before turning and exiting the room.

As soon as the door closed, Cannibal rose from its sprawled out position on the floor, relief flooding its circuits.

The droid storage had another door at the opposite end the Praetorian came through, leading out into the sparring arenas. Cannibal maneuvered its way through the two doors, taking care not to waltz right into a late-night fight.

The arena was empty, and Cannibal made its way into the halls of Beacon. It walked through the intersections, its internal map guiding it through the intersections and cross-sections of the academy. Finally, it came to its destination.

Cannibal shoved its way into the infirmary, startling the desk-clerk from her sleep.

"H-Hello-" She began, before being knocked unconscious by a vicious back hand from the Elite Guard. Cannibal deliberated quickly on whether or not it had killed her, but ultimately decided that she had a better chance to live than to die.

Cannibal walked through the different wards of the infirmary, passing several surgery rooms and the odd nursery every so often, ignoring all of them in favor for the one it sought.

With a hint of aggression, the Praetorian rammed its way into the intensive care center.

It passed a couple of students passed out in their beds, their minds too addled by pain-killers to wake up at the heavy footfalls of the intruder.

The Praetorian came upon one student, her body heaving with labored breath, her bunny ears matted with blood and her arms restrained.

The Praetorian regarded her for a second, the concept of a mother briefly passing through its core. She had been there when it was being built, and had been supportive of its own mechanical birth. Could it really do this to someone who had helped bring it into creation? Who by all means would hate it for what it was about to do?

The notion was cast aside as the Praetorian brought up its fist.

(@)

Amber coughed and hacked as she wiped her mouth on her sleeve, having vomited her dinner from the night before. She felt ill, her stomach cramping as she stood up from her toilet.

 _"Are you ill?"_ Came a monotone and synthesized voice from outside, one of her guards no doubt. _"I have sent for the Royal Physician."_

Amber sighed, she hated doctor's, and she hated that her guards had gotten her one without consulting her first. She stepped in the shower, shedding her nightgown and casting it on the floor. Her body ached from the night she had spent with Brutus, though that filled her with no small amount of satisfaction. She had finally voiced her feelings to him, which she had hidden for quite some time. Every part of her was sore. Her jaw was sore, her legs were sore, her backside was sore. She had never felt so sore in her life.

She had also never had it feel so good.

She finished showering, stepping outside to dry off.

 _"High Regent?"_ Came another voice through the door. " _May I come in?"_

"Yes." Amber answered, assuming the doctor had arrived.

Her assumption was correct, the doctor stepped in and shit the door behind her, her medical equipment and fluid containers jostling with her movements.

 _"I am here to give you an examination. Please disrobe."_

Amber sighed as she dropped her towel, her eyes rolling in her head.

The doctor's hands ran up and down her body, massaging her sore and swollen breasts as she checked for lumps.

The doctor ran her hands down her shoulders and arms, before dropping to her knees to examine her legs.

The doctor made a noise like a hum before standing back up.

 _"You are in perfect physical health, High Regent, and your temperature is normal. There is one more test I have to perform that may cause some discomfort._ _"_

Amber rolled her eyes, before signaling for the doctor to continue.

Immediately, the doctor raised a needle tipped finger, jabbing Amber quickly in the shoulder in a flurry of blinding movement. The doctor withdrew the needle quickly, a drop of blood hanging off the end for a split second before being sucked into the needle. Amber groaned as she rubbed her sore shoulder.

" _Congratulations, High Regent."_ The doctor said in a burst of noise.

"Congratulations? For what?"

The doctor spun her hand in an inhuman way, showing Amber a symbol that made her heart drop.

" _You're Pregnant."_

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **Well, Amber, I have only one thing to say.**_

 _ **You got fucked.**_


	33. Predator of a Praetorian

Cannibal's massive form filled the hall before it, its blank faceplate staring lifelessly into the darkness that permeated every square inch of the structure. It jostled the girl on its shoulder, her body slipping from its grasp momentarily as it shifted her weight. She rolled off of its arm, crashing noisily to the floor and rolling into the wall.

" _Who's there?"_ Came a feminine voice from around the corner, likely an irate faculty member.

Cannibal froze as its core scrambled to find a solution to the problem at hand. It spun its head, frantically searching for an out or a place to hide. The wall's were separated by doors that led into the students dorms, most likely occupied due to it being well past curfew. There were no windows to speak of, and its body was far too big to fit inside one of the vents.

It was out of options, and so it resorted to the most dire of choices.

Cannibal's inbuilt sensor arrays drew power from its Aetheric battery, the multi-dimensional energy gathering together scraps of binary before being sent out in a pulse.

With the signal for reinforcements sent, Cannibal lifted its rifle and loosed a heavy salvo of rounds. There was a cry from further down the hall, and the noises from inside the dorms told it that the students were waking up.

Cannibal gathered Bun-Bun back in its stone arms and sprinted down the corridor, its two-ton weight shaking the floor as it thundered down the hall.

A blast of energy scorched its way along Cannibal's shoulder, blackening the armor. It was followed by several more bolts as the faculty member fired blindly down the hall, calling for the students to aid them.

Cannibal slung its rifle over one shoulder, shielding the girl in its arms from the oncoming fire. It reached the end of the hall, but did not stop. It shouldered its way through the wall, entering a brief freefall as it fell to the ground. Rolling when it hit, Cannibal sprinted to the cliffs edge closest to beacon, its sensors pinging as it received a confirmation.

It spun its head, looking behind it. Students were pouring from the building, rocket lockers landing amongst them as those with some sense summoned their weapons.

Cannibal decided to send another ping requesting its reinforcements to hurry.

(@)

Glynda Goodwitch growled as she rubbed her sore abdomen, the large caliber rounds bruising the flesh of her stomach through her aura. She scowled as the intruder she was chasing slammed its way through the wall at the end of the students dorms, although she had to question why the intruder had decided to come this way anyway, there was no exit here, it led to what used to be a dead end.

"Students! We have an intruder! To arms!" She called out, hoping that the groggy teens would still have enough wits to realize that the school was under attack.

The intruder sprinted away from the school as soon as it landed, the moonlight illuminating its bulky shape for a split second, as well as what lay in its arms.

That criminal had a student! This wasn't an intruder, this was an abduction attempt.

"He has a student, watch your fire!" She screamed at the crowds that had gathered around her.

The students nearest to her acknowledged her warning, but she feared that the maddened throng that had poured out of the floor below her, many already calling weapons down.

The abductor careened off into the brush, making its way to the sea side cliffs, probably to reach a waiting vessel.

Inwardly, Glynda felt a well of unease rise up within her, this attack combined with the recent string of...revelations, something was definitely going on, the discovery of Brutus's body, who was already proven to have had ties with the maiden's and was a powerful individual. Were these people after his body, or the secrets he knew?

Another flash of moonlight, and Glynda saw just who had been taken.

 _'Violetta_ _!'_

Ms. Violetta was the closest to Brutus Rose, she knew what secrets he was working on, she knew and most likely partook in the mysterious works that the young man enacted. This was no mere coincidence, this was done in a deliberate attempt, she had been singled out deliberately.

But why now?

The answer was obvious, she had read the book, she knew what Brutus knew, despite what that knowledge had done to her.

Glynda shuddered even as she continued her pursuit. What was it that Brutus had written in that book that had made her go crazy like that? From what Qrow had told her, Miss Violetta had nearly killed herself in an effort to drive the words from her mind. Was what Brutus knew really potent enough to _shatter_ someone's psyche? How did he even learn this knowledge?

Glynda decided that she did not want to know.

The body thief brutalized their way through the brush, the mob of students following closely behind. The kidnapper reached the edge of the cliff, coming to a screeching halt.

"We've got him students! Surround him!" Glynda yelled, her whip cracking in her hand.

The intruder turned to look at her, its blank faced helmet meeting her emerald gaze. Somehow, inexplicably, a flash of defiance and hatred crawled along its faceplate. Then in an instant, it was gone over the cliffside.

"Stop them!" She screamed, her legs furiously propelling her to the edge, her eyes searching the black waters of the bay.

Nothing. They were gone.

"You." She pointed to a nearby student. "Call the authorities and tell them to search the bay." She turned back towards Beacon, stomping angrily away.

"What about you, Miss Goodwitch?" The student called after her.

She growled, her face split by an ugly snarl.

"The headmaster needs to know about this."

(@)

Cannibal felt relief flood its core as it drifted through the Aether, a silent blurt of binary thanked its saviors, the twins Adon and Noda, for their timely rescue.

Adon hissed his reply, and Noda did not answer, merely taking the girl from Cannibals arms and leading them back to Jaccar.

Cannibal was not surprised by the treatment, its mission had been botched. Its orders were upheld, though that meant little after being seen, and pursued, as well as failing one objective entirely. The work it did was sloppy, completely unbefitting of a Praetorian. The girl was recovered, yes, but the Rod Of Iron was left behind. The twins themselves were originally supposed to be the ones to make the recovery, their bodies much more suited for stealth than the Praetorians, but Cannibal had challenges them, its own calculations boasting pridefully that if the Right and Left hands of Brutus could do it, then a Praetorian could as well.

It was a childish notion, and a childish reason. Cannibal felt something akin to guilt or shame's icy grip take hold of its body. It should have obeyed orders, should have let the twins go. It had nearly failed the mission, nearly failed its creator entirely. This would surely be a black mark against the Praetorians.

Yet when it locked eyes with that woman, none of that mattered, not the mission, not its pride, none of it.

Cannibals hand balled into a fist as it shook. Its anger at that woman floodin its body from its aetheric heart to its extremities.That woman had caused the Praetorian to fail, it caused Cannibal to fail.

As it turned to follow the twins, Cannibal swore vengeance against that green eyed witch.

(@)

Amber paced in her chambers, the cool stone and air doing nothing to cool the heat that rose from her temper.

What was she going to do?! She was Pregnant! She couldn't be pregnant! She was a maiden for crying out loud! Maiden's can't have children! How was this even possible?! She was even barren before hand for crying out loud!

"Trouble, Amber?" Came Shar's voice from the corner of the room. "You've called me to your chambers, but all you've done is pace for the past half hour, and I must say." She sighed as she placed down her wine glass on a nearby nightstand. "It's really not doing it for me."

"This isn't a joke Shar, this is serious!" Amber screeched at her.

"What's so serious? You haven't told me anything. Why don't you come sit down, have a glass of wine, relax a bit and tell me what it is that is bothering you so much."

Amber growled as she glared at the horned girl, baring her teeth in a vicious snarl. The look on Amber's face died soon, replaced instead by a heavy sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I can't drink, Shar."

The Imperial Princess laughed before taking another sip of her wine. "Can't drink? Why not? It's what you always do." She snorted at her own insult before turning to top off her now empty glass. "You know, Amber. With how you've been acting lately, and with your reluctance to drink, it's almost like you're pregnant or someth-"

Shar turned in a whirl, surprise plastered on her face as her glass spilled over, forgotten momentarily in her stupor.

Amber rubbed her arm sheepishly, a guilty look on her face as she kicked at the small carpet on her floor.

"No way." She whispered incredulously as she rose from her seat. "You _are_ pregnant!"

Shar flew to Ambers side, her hand already on the girls stomach. "How far along are you?" She asked. "Who's the father?"

"I'm not that far along, but the doctor said she found an increase of hormones, white blood cells and other things that all indicated that I was with child." Amber answered. "As for the father..."

"Wait! Let me guess, it's that one youth from the Scarlet Guard, the one who always waves at you whenever his patrol passes by!"

Amber giggled. "First off, that's a woman, not a man, and secondly, when would I have had time to even meet up with them?"

"Do you even know the father, Amber?" Shar accused, hands on her hips. "Did you have a gangbang without me?"

Amber slapped the girl lightly on her arm, scoffing. "I did not, as if the Queen of Jaccar would sink so low."

Shar blinked, an uncharacteristic frown marring her features. "We've been over this Amber, you're High Regent, you rule in my father's stead when he is away. The only way you could be Queen would be to marry my father, and last I checked, you two haven't so much as slept togethe-"

Shar stopped, her mouth hanging open as she stared at Amber.

"Surprise..." Amber said awkwardly.

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _To whoever left that long ass review. PM me, I want to talk._**

 ** _Well, well, well. A whole lot being seen now. The Praetorians are becoming emotional, Shar now knows that Amber turned her daddy into Amber's daddy. Bun-Bun has been taken, the Rod Of Iron, probably the most powerful artifact Brutus has ever created is now coming into play._**

 ** _Wonder who dies first? Probably the bunny to be honest._**


	34. Primus Chapter 34

Macharius crouched in the belly of the airship, shadows covering his body, blending in amongst the various crates. He could see his team, hidden similarly in the darkness. His partner, Jack Saxon had pressed his large frame in between a couple of pipes, his sleek and blackened armor hiding him from sight. Wulf was hidden somewhere in the scaffolding above them, and Arhus had disappeared from sight entirely.

The noise of the engines was mind numbingly loud, and they had endured it for hours. The crew that milled about on the walkways above them spoke in exaggerated tones, trying to be heard above the roar, were heard well enough by the infiltrators, the tidbits of useless information were f

passed over in favor for the key information that they were waiting for.

"So did you hear? Our next stop is Vale." A voice above him sounded.

The reply was lost in the din of the engines, but Macharius had what he needed, and knew what he had to do.

As it was with all things, he had to be patient and wait for the right time.

(@)

Finally, the airship docked. The dull thump of the mooring clamps rattling the hull was the trigger that sped he and his squad into movement.

They rushed away from the crates, as silent as they could have been, and made their way to the vents nearby.

Macharius crouched down, a small screwdriver flashing into his hands as he unscrewed the bolts holding the vent cover in place. His team stacked up behind him, their movements rushed.

"Okay, listen up." Said Wulf, his hands making motions and numbers as he spoke. "Any minute now, the engines are going to vent all their built up hydraulic pressure straight through these vents, through a filtering grate, and straight through some dumping tubes. This is our ticket outside, but our biggest priority is removing that filter."

Macharius continued with the vent, his hands working quickly as Wulf continued. "It is absolutely imperative that filter be removed, because if that pressure is flushed with us in there, we'll be squished together and the resultant air pressure will pop our eyes and lungs like grapes. Any Questions?"

Jack raised his hand. "How do we remove the vent?"

Wulf smiled beneath his helmet, tapping his head with a finger. "That, big man, is why we have you."

"I'm finished." Macharius said suddenly, setting the vent on the ground next to him. "Jack, your up first."

"Why am I up fi-"

Jack never finished his sentence when Arhus shoved him into the vent, jumping in behind him soon after. Wulf went next, and Macharius crawled in behind him, stopping to turn around and place the vent cover back in place.

The vents wound and twisted, slick with hydraulic fluid. Jack bit his lips as he went down, sliding along the grease covered surface. Soon, as he rounded a bend, he saw a large covering spanning the section ahead of him, thin metal wires interlacing across it. Jack had the time to suck in a breath for a scream before he plummeted through it head first. The filter broke, wires straining before shattering into tiny fragments. Jack opened his eyes, squeezed shut as they were, to see tthe end of the vent, and the concrete that laid below the ship.

"Oh shi-" Was all he had to say before he impacted the landing pad.

He landed with tremendous force, his aura flaring and straining to keep him from breaking his neck and spine. He skid for a few meters, his armor sparking as it ground against the concrete.

Arhus came out of the vent next, slamming down onto his hip before jack-knifing and rolling along the ground. Wulf ended up the same way, rolling along the concrete and slamming into a mooring clamp. Macharius shot out next, sliding along his back before using the momentum to enter a roll and come to rest with far more grace than his comrades.

"Right in the fuckin tit!" Screamed Wulf, hand clutching his chest as he writhed in pain.

"Get up, we have to leave as soon as we can and get to the safe house." Arhus barked at him, giving him a swift kick to the rear for good measure.

"Yeah, but you don't have to be a dick about it!" Wulf snapped back.

The team gradually made their way out from underneath the ship, ghosting their way across the landing pad and into the lower residential districts. The darkness of night helping them to blend in as they filed into the doorway of a disgusting looking building.

The building was a several room apartment, owned by one Gage Mews, a known rapist and pedophile amongst the lower echelons of the city.

Macharius rapped his knuckles on the door, cursing being heard from the other side as the occupant struggled up to the wooden door. Inwardly, Macharius grimaced at the prospect of having to stay in such a disgusting and filthy place, he would have preferred a hideout far less littered with diseases, but such was the way the world turned. The door was pulled open with such haste that the un-oiled hinges threw up sparks. A large, balding man scowled from the other side, his greasy skin shining with a fresh sheen of sweat, likely from having to get up and answer the door.

"Are you Gage Mews?" Macharius asked indifferently.

"Who wants to feckin know?" The fat man replied.

Macharius took a step back from the door, holding up a wad of lien. "A very wealthy person, that's who."

The rapists eyes bulged, locking onto the cash as he waddled out to grab ahold of it. "Yeah! Yeah! I'm Gage! I'm him!"

As soon as the man took two steps from the door and out into the street, a bulky hand slapped over his mouth as a large knife slammed up under his ribs.

The pedophile shuddered, his eyes going wide as he struggled vainly against his captor. Trying desperately to escape his oncoming demise.Coughing once through his muffled scream, he thrashed in Arhus's grip, he coughed again, his eyes glazing over as he slowed, his body unable to keep up the struggle after losing so much blood. With one final wheeze, Gage Mews fell forward into the street.

"Excellent work, Arhus." Macharius commented. "One less problem for us to deal with. Take the body and dump it in the sewers, no one will miss him."

Arhus nodded and dragged the body off, the rest of the squad filing into the house to claim a room for their own.

"Fucking gross." Wulf commented as he saw the state of the interior. "How does someone live like this?"

The walls were covered in muck, and the kitchen sink was piled high with dishes and grime. The carpet stuck to their boots, and the lightbulbs flickered as roaches passed through their light, casting ominous shadows across the room.

Jack yelped as he opened the door to the spare bedroom, his eyes settling on the leather straps attached to the ends of the bed.

"That guy was fucking sick." Wulf spat as he opened a drawer filled with bottles of lube and strangely shaped objects.

"We'll clean this place up tomorrow, just find a spot not too filthy and bed down, keep your pistols handy though, never know if he worked alone." Macharius ordered, his own sleeping bag already unfolded and placed in the least disgusting spot.

Wulf groaned when he noticed the stain covered couch. "I should have stayed on the fucking ship."

(@)

The night passed without alarm, and the morning had come much too quickly for the squad.

"Bloody hell, that's bright." Whispered Wulf as he slung his sleeping bag over his head to block out the suns rays. "It's too early for this shit."

"Tell me about it, I think I had a roach crawl in my ear." Jack murmured from beside him, his own sleeping bag right alongside Wulf's.

"Why are you so close to me?" Wulf growled, his eyes glaring at Jack from beneath his hastily erected awning.

"If I tell you, you'll just yell at me." Jack squeaked out, scooting away from his squadmate.

"Get up, we have work to do." Macharius called from the kitchen. "We need to meet with a man called Roman Torchwick today, he's a notorious criminal, but he likes his money, and the crown paid quite a bit to arrange this meeting."

Arhus leaned against the counter alongside him, grunting as he bit into a protein bar. He was up far earlier than the others, a habit he had developed when he lived in the dust mines, if he got up early, he could protect Litla from the worst of the work.

Now he just hated sleeping in.

"I'm up, I'm up. What do we need to meet this Torchwick guy for anyway?" Wulf asked, standing up from his sleeping bag, beginning to roll it up. "He's a criminal, and I don't like criminals."

"Torchwick is a criminal, there isn't a thing that goes down in this city without him knowing about it, he has info we want."

"And after we get the info from him? What then?"

"That is none of your concern, soldier." Macharius barked. "Your job is to assist me, anything beyond that is far above your clearance."

"Understood...Sir" Wulf spat, managing to turn the words into an insult.

The group packed their belongings, stopping shortly to make sure they left nothing behind. They made their way through the alleys, avoiding contact with people and staying away from the prying eyes of the homeless. They wound their way through twisting alleys, their hands close to their sidearms. Their gear was hiddsn by heavy cloaks, and their hoods covered their faces.

Eventually they arrived at their destination. A large warehouse, stocked with fish from the ocean. Although the only thing fishy about this place was the clear lack of workers.

"Keep quiet and stay here." Macharius whispered, opening up a door and slipping inside.

"Damn." Whispered Wulf. "Should have brought something to read."

(@)

"Took you long enough."

"Sorry, I was tied up with some rather unenthusiastic help."

"Tell me about it, good help is hard to find, but you're not here to tell me about your day, you want info, I got info, let's do business."

Macharius lowered his hood, staring directly ahead at the infamous criminal, Roman Torchwick.

"I want to know everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything."

 ** _A/N: And Macharius begins the backroom dealings, and the plot marches onwards! Although I must say, writing these play by play scenes is rather exhausting, I'm not used to writing such transitory pieces and it really shows._**

 ** _Review and Fav. Peace._**


	35. North to madness

Ozpin held his head in his hands, the consequences of his latest defeat weighed heavily on his shoulders. He should have known that the girl would have been targeted, she had read Brutus's book almost in its entirety, and knew much of his secrets, a living treasure trove of knowledge.

And now she was gone, taken by an unknown assailant.

"Are you sure we don't know who took her?" Ironwood asked, concern and annoyance edging his tone. "If we can find out anything about them, we can find her and get the girl back."

"I've told you before, there were no markings, no outside or visual insignia, nothing." Glynda sighed. "As far as we know, it could have been Atlas, or any of the kingdoms that took her."

Ironwood bristled at the accusation. "I can assure you that Atlas had nothing to do with this attack." He growled. "We do not attack our allies."

Ozpin raised his hand, stopping the two from continuing their bickering. "What we do know is that the intruder was caught in the student wing, near the dorm rooms. Miss Violetta was in the medical wing, a good distance from the place the intruder was found."

"He was looking for a place to exit, but probably got lost along the way." Ironwood said.

Qrow shook his head, speaking up from his place along Ozpin's office wall. "The person who took Bun-Bun knew exactly where to go, he knew this place inside and out, he avoided the bulk of the students, the faculty and the staff on his way in, so why did he walk into the hornets nest on his way out?"

"The answer to that is simple." Ozpin answered. "Because he was looking for something, and I'm willing to bet that whatever it was, it was in her room."

"And for once." Qrow interjected, revealing a large iron staff from behind his back. "We lucked out."

"What is it?" Glynda questioned, glancing up and down at the rod, appraising it.

The rod, at first glance, was an unassuming piece of metal, but upon closer inspection, its thick body was covered in thousands upon thousands of lines of script, the thin lines of the words squirmed almost angrily under her gaze.

It was beautiful almost, the way they squirmed, no, not squirmed, but danced. Their movements were timed in perfect sync with one another, but horribly independent, never relying on the other for timing or direction, like a pair of dancers so used to rehearsing a routine that it had become second nature to them. Each one moving on its own, yet mimicking the other with its own original dance so unlike yet so similar to its counterpart, a mirror image that didn't reflect its own reflection.

A perverse but lovely parallel that truly promised so much.

Could she learn how to do that? The words promised her she could, they whispered false truths and true lies in her ears, told her of the pleasurable agonies of life that could all be hers if she would just pay the price.

She could reach across the great schism between consciousness and what lies beyond, all it would take was -

"Glynda?" Ironwood's voice broke through the fog, snapping her out of the mist and pulling her away from the then and was, what can and has, and back to the here and now, back to the reality.

"..Y-yes?" She asked, stuttering slightly as she regained her composure. What had happened to her? Had she even been paying attention? What was going on?

"You okay? You zoned out there for a second, everything all right?" His voice was filled with concern, gone was the stern billet of steel in his words.

"Yes, I..I'm alright. Where were we?" She said, shaming her head clear of the psychic mud that had invaded it.

"As I was saying, the book I have, written by Brutus Rose." Ozpin raised an eyebrow when he heard Qrow scoff. "Tells me that this artifact here is something called the Rod Of Iron, and that it is not a weapon, but a kind of 'focal point' that is capable of redirecting energy as well as storing it."

"So it's a battery?" Ironwood asked. "The intruder was after a battery?"

"Sort of, but one that is also capable of communication." Ozpin answered. "But the question remains.." He trailed off.

"Communication with what?" Qrow finished for him.

"Or who?" Ozpin added. The headmaster turned to regard his lieutenant. "Qrow, do you remember the word that Miss Violetta kept repeating?"

"Only too much." Qrow said, grimacing. "I remember what she did to herself after saying it."

"A tragic incident, yes, but she may have been on to something. We don't know who killed Brutus, or who took Violetta from us, for now, we must be careful, and vigilant."

Standing from his desk, Ozpin grabbed hold of the Rod Of Iron. "And this must be stored and secured."

(@)

Amber stirred from her slumber, the first morning rays filtering into the stone room from between the heavy curtains that lined the sole window. The light spilled across her desk, illuminating papers and matters of state. The light from a sun millions of miles away peeked its way across the floor and up her bed.

And directly in her eyes.

Amber grumbled as she rolled over, tossing the blankets over her head, cursing the day for its audacity to begin, and the night for its courage to end.

"High Regent, I have urgent news." The robotic, monotone voice of one of her guards filled the still air.

"Unless its an invasion, it can wait." Amber shouted from the safety of her cloth fortress.

"The leader of the Norsemen is here to see you." Her guard informed her.

The reaction was immediate, Amber's body tossing itself out of bed as she scrambled to undress herself.

"Tell him I'll be with him in just a minute!" She shouted, her guard bowing before leaving the room. Amber sprinted into her closet, her nightgown left piled up on the floor. She ran through racks upon racks of lavish and decorative clothing, before deciding upon some scarlet and gold ensemble. Tossing on her underwear and clothing, she forced on her shoes and stopped just short of the door.

Taking a deep breath to compose herself and separate from the chaos of the morning, she motioned for her remaining guard to follow her, and exited her room.

(@)

Chieftain Wulfric Ujik was a balding man, a thick grey beard ensconced his chin and despite being well over seventy years old, he still stood straight in his armor, his sword at his hip.

Beside him stood his two sons, Kij and Jik, their muscle bound frames filling the space to either side of their father. Their retinue of Huscarls took their place beside them, silently thankful for their fur lined armor in the chilly atmosphere of the Palace.

They were all tall, strong men, but all stood in the shadows of the Praetorians assigned to their security, whose massive frames and bulk seemed unassailable. Alongside each of the Praetorians stood their own personal retinue of Scarlet Guard, whose thick bronze plated armor and scarlet topknots sat still in the windless room, ornamented halberds clutched in their hands.

Sitting upon Brutus's throne, Amber began the delegations.

"I am honored to have such important and mighty men in my home, I do hope the presence of so many of my guards is not offsetting, they have orders from the King himself to handle my security very seriously."

"Where is the king? Unless you've got a cock under that dress, I don't think you're him." Wulfric said, his eyes wandering up and down the High Regent's body. "I was invited by the king, now I want to talk to the king."

Amber inwardly winced, the chieftain's language being a sour reminder to life outside the palace. This was not the first time a leader wanted to speak with Brutus, and probably wouldn't be the last.

"I'm sorry." Amber began. "But the king is indisposed for the moment, and is liable to be for some time. I rule in his stead, so you can deal with me."

Wulfric shook his head before turning to leave. "If I can't talk to the king, then I won't talk to you." He turned to stomp his way out of the throne room, his brow furrowed.

Amber didn't call after him, she didn't ask him to wait. She understood his frustration, he had to travel such a long way to find out that the person who invited him wasn't even there. Hopefully, they would stay in the city, where they could be called upon quickly whenever Brutus came back.

When was he coming back? It had been well over two years now, what was taking him so long in Vale? He said that he would be back soon, and she had already dispatched that squad with orders to report on what was happening in Vale, and so far they had reported nothing at all.

She sighed, the stress of the day already getting to her. Her hand settled on her belly, gently rubbing it. The stress wasn't good for the baby, and definitely not good for her either.

Would Brutus be back in time to share in her pregnancy? She shivered as she thought about it, the idea being quite unwelcome. She shook the thought out of her mind, deciding that the next appointment with the crown could be bumped up a bit.

Calling upon a nearby Praetorian, she began her duties.

(@)

Shar-Narrayah held the scroll up to her ear, smiling as she heard the news.

"Excellent work, Macharius, I was right to trust you. The news that the white fang is preparing an attack on Beacon is welcome, as well as serving our purpose. Assist the fang in their endeavors, assist Beacon as well, play both sides and pit them against one another."

Ending the call, she couldn't help but smile.

Beacon, Vale and the fang entering into a three way rumble? Why that would bring around so much destruction, chaos, death...

And Murder.

 ** _A/N:_** ** _Shar has gone off the deep end, her thiccccc ass and thighs serving only to pull her under more._** ** _More to come, Next time._** ** _Review and Fav, peace._**


	36. Dissecting the transmundane

Shar-Narrayah stood outside of Amber's chambers, her hand paused just above the carved stone. She had to tell Amber of what she planned to do, but something was stopping her, some unknown tension in her mind, a chain keeping her from moving forward.

Hesitation.

A mortal notion, and one that disgusted her to no end. She was the first born of a god, she was divine in both origin and body, she was about as far above the mortal morass as one could get. She had no reason to be hesitant.

 _'I'm just going to walk in, tell Amber that I have to leave for Vale. Simple.'_ Except that it wasn't so simple. Amber may have been a human, albeit one with a very important position, but she was also going to be the mother of Brutus's child, her soon to be brother or sister.

Could she really abandon her so soon into the pregnancy? What if something happened to her while she was gone? What if Jaccar was attacked? What if the grimm invaded?

Shar shook her head, dispelling the miasma of panic that had settled around her senses. The Praetorians, not to mention the military could handle just about any situation that could arise. Amber would be fine, she would be mire than fine, she'd be untouchable.

The thought didn't alleviate any of the doubt that lingered in her mind, she still had to leave though, the whole plan hinged on her. Macharius couldn't complete his mission without her.

Sucking in a breath, she pushed the door open.

Amber was sitting at her desk, a half eaten peanut butter and pickles sandwich sat in her hands, her mouth still held open in the preparation of a bite. She was the absolute antithesis of regal and reserved with the peanut butter smeared in her mouth and shirt, pickle juice running down her chin and onto the polished granite of her desk. Amber grinned sheepishly as she set down her sandwich, blushing all the while.

"Heey Shar...What are you doing here?" She asked, her eyes darting between the princess and her delectable lunch. "I'm kind of in the middle of something."

Shar rolled her eyes. "You can finish making love to your food later, I have something important to tell you." Shar said, sitting on the edge of Amber's bed, her hand running idly through the satin sheets.

"What is it?" Amber turned to regard Shar, her eyebrow raising.

"I'm leaving Jaccar." Shar said, nervously rubbing her hands together and refusing to meet Amber's eyes. "It's important that I go to Vale, my father needs my help in Vale, and I-"

"Go, then." Amber interrupted. "If you need to go, then go. Brutus is in Vale, so you'll be safe, my job is to remain here, and keep things running smoothly, if your place is out there, then go."

"I..." Shar began, the disgusting feeling of something rising up in her throat again, keeping her from speaking. It coiled in her chest, a warm feeling that sickened her to no end.

Getting up from the bed, Shar launched her arms around Amber, embracing her in a careful and awkward but loving hug. "Thanks." She whispered, pulling away from the maiden and ending the foreign display of affection as soon as it began.

"Just be careful, its dangerous to go alone, believe me." Amber sighed, flinching a little when she remembered the worse details.

"Oh, I won't be going alone, I'm taking someone from the legion with me, and I'll be having my own suit of armor made, not unlike my father's." Shar said, smiling.

Amber didn't seem as amused however, and she glared daggers at the princess.

"You just wanted to spend time alone with your boyfriend didn't you."

"No!"

(@)

Shar marveled at her own reflection, turning her body so as to look at herself from another angle. The armor she wore was beautiful, smooth stone inlaid with swirling and mesmerizing patterns of ivory. She purred as she turned, the bulky armor feeling like a second skin, its rotors whirring as they moved in time with her own movements. The armor was not unlike her father's, its design heavily influenced by the armor schematics of the Praetorians. It was heavy, but felt light as a feather and was as quick as a flash of lightning.

It was marvelous. A work of art.

Threading her long hair through a hole in the back of her helmet, she donned the final ensemble.

(@)

Shar strode triumphantly out of the gates of Jaccar, her every step brimmed with confidence and vigor. The armor left heavy imprints in the dirt behind her, but she felt none of the weight, the armor's structured servos lifting the mass of the armor away from her body. Despite the immense protection that the armor gave her, she still felt like a knife was twisting in her gut. This was her home, it had been for the last two years, she had so much invested here, both physically and emotionally. This was her father's city, he had built it with his own two hands. Her sibling would most likely be born here, so many things had tied her to this place

Turning to look over her shoulder at the great gates of her father's home, she felt like she was turning her back on everything that she and Amber had built.

But that was just an annoying emotional connection, right? That was something mortals had, and she was far above mortals.

The feeling still lingered.

And it wasn't like she was leaving this place behind entirely, she'd have the armor forged by the twins, Adon and Noda, not to mention her bodyguard, the Legionaire, he'd be with her.

Shar snapped out of her thoughts when she saw the soldier that she had personally selected. He was the top scorer on all of his aptitude tests, he had already been awarded a commendation for such a young age, all she had to do was read his file and she knew she had found someone good enough to be her personal bodyguard. She would have preferred a Praetorian, but after the last fiasco, they were being put under an...observational parole.

The soldier was milling about something up ahead, probably preparing some kind of transport. Most likely making sure the whole vehicle was secure, and well stocked with the finest goods, she was a princess after all, surely the crown deserved only the best.

(@)

Of all the things Shar had been grateful for, she was most thankful that the helmet she wore had its own internal oxygen supply. She stared down at the abominable creature that dared to invade her presence. The creatures black eyes swirled around to focus on the princess, its disgusting maw opening up, thin strings of spittle and debris from its last meal hung sickeningly between its yellowed teeth. Its open jaws shot forward, closing around its prey with a content snort as it ripped the tasty morsel from its moorings, flattened teeth already beginning to chew.

The donkey groaned as it chewed the grass in its mouth, happily grazing away as its master loaded it down with supplies and gear.

"This." Shar began, too shocked to fully form a response. "Is a donkey." She finished dumbly.

"Well yeah, it's a donkey." Someone said from the other side of the donkey. "You don't want to carry all this gear yourself do you?"

Finishing with the leather saddlebags, her bodyguard stood up with a cheeky grin. "I know I don't."

Shar didn't make contact. "It's a donkey." She repeated.

"Yeah, it is." The soldier said again. "I got a mule if you want to use that one instead." He added, his thumb over his shoulder and pointing back to a stable.

A mule? How did he think that was any better?! She was a princess! She should have been loaded up into a bullhead fitted with silk seats, an inbuilt bar, and gold furnishings, not a donkey!

"Where's our ride? Where's the ship?" She said slowly, her eyes widening underneath her helmet as she frantically looked around.

"No ship left to be spared, they're all tied up ferrying in materials to refit our airship, there ain't none left to help us." He shrugged.

Shar practically hissed as she spun around to face him, disbelief played across her face. "Refitting the airship?! Why?!"

"We're doing a full combat refit, top of the line stuff made right here in Jaccar, we're turning that old bucket of bolts into the first of her kind, A Jaccaran warship!" He proclaimed proudly. "Name's Elijah by the way, nice to meet you." He said, smiling as he stuck out his hand. "Glad to see I won't be the only one guarding the princess. Didn't think they'd send a Praetorian though."

P-Praetorian?!

"I _am_ the princess." She growled, practically ripping her helmet off her head. She pointed to her face, her eyes blazing with anger.

Elijah's eyes widened, his fist banging heavily against his chest as he scrambled to salute her properly. "Ma'am!" He shouted, his eyes refusing to meet hers.

Shar sighed, an armored hand coming up to rub the bridge of her nose. Was this really the best? He didn't even recognize the sovereign princess, much less greet a ranking officer properly.

"At ease, at ease." She groaned. "Forget the military jargon, I don't need someone who constantly snaps to attention every time I ask them to do something."

Elijah relaxed, his stance loosening as he leaned against the donkey. "So you're the princess?" His eyes scanned her up and down, though they did linger on her hips for just a bit longer. "Not how I pictured you'd look."

Shar placed her hands on her hips, fixing her bodyguard with an angry stare. "And just how did you picture I'd look?"

"Not like a Praetorian, that's for sure." He answered, much to her ire.

Elijah patted the mule on its flank, taking its reigns in his hand before turning to walk south. Shar caught up with him easily, but that didn't stop the look of confusion on her face. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"To Vale, it'll take us about a week to get there, and I don't want to get caught on the road in the dark."

"But where's our transport?"

"On the bottom of our legs." He laughed, gesturing towards his feet.

Shar rolled her eyes and growled, but continued to walk beside him nonetheless.

 _'This is going to suck."_ She thought, sighing when Elijah began to tell a story about boot camp.

 _'This is really going to suck.'_

(@)

Small orbs of light fluttered around the aether, their emotional energy casting bright illumination onto the surgical table below them. Brutus's shade observing the body of the girl beneath him. His shrouded eyes scanning over every inch of her bare body.

Bun-Bun had sure grown in the past two years, her body had filled out more, matured, she had grown even taller somehow, and her hair had become longer.

Peeling back one eyelid to observe her pupil, and to make sure she was unconscious as well as unaware of her surroundings, he turned to a nearby surgical table. Selecting an obsidian bladed scalpel, carefully inlaid with lines of text that added to its sharpness, he made his first incision.

Slipping the blade in the flesh between her breasts, he guided the instrument down towards her navel, the skin unzipping in front of his eyes. Blood welled up from the cut before being quickly dabbed away by the royal doctor next to him.

Finished with his cutting, Brutus traded out the scalpel for a pair of tongs. Slipping the tip into the incision, and peeling it apart, Brutus locked the tongs in place, before looking down into his previous lover's innards.

Her organs shone with a sheen of moisture, their bluish and reddened meat pulsing in time with her exposed heart. Her stomach undulating as Brutus observed it, a finger poking it experimentively. He moved on to her lower intestine, passing over it and settling on her uterus. The reproductive organ looked viable and fertile, and the accompanying ovaries were bloated with eggs. Nothing seemed wrong.

Brutus scanned over her legs, taking one in both his hands and feeling the muscles that lay underneath the skin. They were taught and strong.

Everything seemed to be in order, no abnormalities, no anomalies, just a healthy set of organs. Were his suspicions wrong? Was Bun-Bun not undergoing some change because of the book, or from being with him?

Was he wrong?

His eye roamed over a shivering lung, something else pulsing in the meat out of time with the rest. Taking his scalpel, he delicately cut away the tissue, being extra careful not to nick an artery or rupture anything. Pulling apart the flesh with a pair of tweezers, he observed the strange little organ underneath.

Its body was small, almost negligible, its shape was awkward and ugly, and it leaked moisture and thick streams of brackish blood pumped in and out of it regularly. Was it an infected tumor? Some kind of knot of cartilage?

He poked at it with the tweezers, turning it over. Small black scales littered one side, forming a hard exterior that ground against the sternum when she breathed. Brutus looked back over her body, and began finding more and more of the buds along every major organ.

Was this a by-product of reading the book, and uttering the name of that snake woman? The scales definitely looked like hers, but how did Bun-Bun get infected like this anyway?

She uttered the name of that snake woman, quite unprepared to invoke the name of such a powerful creature, she was lucky that she didn't summon the woman straight out of the aether. She took the name of the creature into herself, into her mind, where it infected her memory and rejected her psyche.

But why was it physically manifesting itself? Uttering a name alone shouldn't have had this kind of effect, definitely not enough of one to alter biological makeup like this.

So why had it?

Something like this would have required an extremely intimate relationship with the aether, something that no one could have achieved.

Unless...

No it couldn't be, there was no way.

But it would explain why he had felt the aether move within her when they had first met, why she had instinctively latched onto him, and why she had wanted to mate with him almost immediately.

She may have been a bunny faunus, and a fertile female, but those were not the prime factors.

Bun-Bun latched onto him because he was a male, a virile male who was powerful and held great promise.

She latched onto him out of the instinctual need to propagate the species, to _breed._

Bun-Bun may not have been a native of the aether like Brutus was, but one of her parents had been.

Bun-Bun was a half-breed, and if this organ was correct, she was about to fully mature and mutate into the next stage of her life.

But into what, he didn't know.

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _Boy oh boy, did Bun-Bun have quite the surprise in store for Brutus, who let me remind you, is dead in the physical world, but is a shade in the aether, a shade being a manifestation of his will, and not his physical body, which is in Beacon, he can interact with things inside the aether, but not outside the aether._**

 ** _Bun-Bun's condition begs the question, if one of her parents was from the aether, does that mean that there are other's from the aether?_**

 ** _Well yes, the snake lady is one of them._**

 ** _So this is what a cross-breed looks like, and Amber is preggo with Brutus's kid, sounds like trouble to me, unless Amber can change entirely, the kid will be a cross breed._**

 ** _Man that was heavy with foreshadowing, oh well._**

 ** _As always, review and fav. Peace._**


	37. Backroom dealings

Macharius glanced around him, noting how the room felt unnaturally still, like the very air had frozen. Things were tense, the squad jumbled around the room, calm played across their faces.

But he knew better, he had studied them, dissected their histories and pasts and assimilated their habits to memory.

The way Jack fingered his machete, or how wolf drummed his hand against his lap, or how Arhus had his arms crossed a little too tightly for someone who was fine with the situation.

The squad was nervous, and rightly so, if this mission went tits up then they could all face the chopping block. Well, not Macharius of course, he'd just blame the squad and say that they couldn't be controlled. They would lose their heads, but he would keep his job.

They were all dressed in their 'casual' clothes, which was really whatever they could steal and get away with. Their armor had been stashed in a safe place, away from prying eyes.

Taking a sip of his whiskey, Macharius leaned back in his chair and checked the clock on the office wall.

Their guests were due any minute now, and hopefully they wouldn't be late.

A soft click came from the door, which swung open to reveal their new prospective partners.

The leader, a woman in red who commanded a sublime presence entered in first, her hips swaying with a barely concealed seductiveness that only someone trained in the finer arts of... _life_ would have known. She was stunning, beyond beautiful, and would have fit perfectly on the cover of some model magazine.

But Macharius didn't care, such carnal notions didn't sway him, not when they were so weaponized. The fact she had come in so brazenly had thrown up several red flags already, the fact that he was dealing with a professional and not a pretender cemented itself in his mind, and he adjusted his strategy accordingly.

Gesturing to a pulled out chair, the living goddess took a seat.

"I'm pleased you decided to come." Macharius began, pausing to take another sip of his drink. "When Roman told me about you, I instantly knew he was a...lesser player, and I needed to go straight to the top to get what I wanted."

"My, my, my, it is so refreshing to meet a finer gentleman after dealing with animals all day, it truly does wonders for the spirit." Cinder said huskily, leaning back in her chair and propping her feet up in another. "But a gentleman always introduces himself first before asking a lady to dance."

"Ah, yes, how rude of me, I apologize." Macharius made a short little nod from his seat before gesturing to himself. "I am Macharius Maleficum, and these." He gestured to the men arrayed about the room. "Are my friends."

Cinder produced a scroll from her bust, idly switching it on before scrolling through a set of documents. "I know who you are, Macharius, and it seems to me that someone who has been kicked out of.." She paused to read some more on her scroll. "..Three Academies is not the kind of person who has friends." She placed the scroll back in her dress, before reaching a slender arm across the table and snagging his drink, taking a long sip from the squat glass.

Immediately the conversation swung in her favor, Cinder having taken it by the horns and revealing that she knew about his past. Macharius simmered inwardly at someone knowing his secret, but he relented in saying something back. He could use this knowledge against her, fabricate an entirely false backstory to ensnare her.

"You're right, Cinder." Macharius replied evenly, swinging the conversation back on track. "Nothing gets passed you, these men are mercenaries I've hired to assist me in my goals, I should have known better than to play word games with you." He smirked.

"But of course, dear Macharius. It isn't wise to challenge a master of wordplay when you yourself are but a novice." She chided playfully. "But tell me, what is this goal of yours you so obviously want completed?"

"You said so yourself, Cinder. I have been expelled from three different huntsmen Academies, all for questioning the way things were done the way they were. My goal is simple. I want revenge." He said, chuckling lightly.

"I want to destroy Beacon Academy."

"Oh?" Cinder replied, raising an interested eyebrow. "But why Beacon? You have not been expelled from there, why destroy it?" She finished, taking another sip from her pilfered drink

Macharius motioned for Jack to bring him a new glass, nodding gratefully when the fresh alcohol was placed in his hand. "All across Remnant, the huntsmen academies train us to fight grimm. We spar against eachother, we fight against eachother, we forge weapons and strategies to use against eachother."

" _I_ had the audacity to question. Why were we attacking eachother and not training against the grimm? Why were we practicing killing men when the real enemy was just outside our gates? Why do we hold asinine festivals celebrating false unity in asinine ways in the face of an enemy who is still out there? They evicted me for this line of questioning, threw me out and sullied my name." Macharius said, idly spinning the ice in his glass.

"The academies are nothing more than glorified lies. They tell us that the hunters protect us against the grimm, but they aren't trained to fight grimm are they? The hunters are representatives of a false ideal. What if Vale went to war with Vacuo? How long would it take for the hunters to get involved? Atlas already has 'specialists.' The whole system is a lie, the academies are a lie, the kingdoms are a lie." Macharius continued.

"And Beacon is their golden calf. If Beacon falls, the academies fall, and the lie is exposed."

Cinder nodded, having stayed quiet throughout the whole of the young man's rant. Macharius seemed like a revolutionary, and one with a fire in his belly. His goal was to topple the academies, and just so happened to fall in line with hers. He seemed intelligent but not too aware of the bigger picture. He would make an excellent subordinate.

"My, quite the young upstart." Cinder leaned across the table, stretching like a languid cat, and giving a good view of her chest. "So what does this have to do with me?"

Macharius smiled, leaning forward to take her hand in his. "I hear that you want to deal some damage to the kingdom, and I want to help."

"Well, I believe that can be arranged, contact me on my scroll when you want to get down to business, and I'll see if I can..." She paused to lick her lips. "...Help your situation."

Macharius grinned, taking a sip of his drink before placing it on the table to trade scroll details with her.

Once it was done, Cinder stood up to leave, her hips swaying dramatically as she exited the room. She paused in the doorway to turn and blow a kiss towards Macharius, who stuck his hand out to catch it and press it to his chest.

She shut the door after, already beginning the walk to a waiting vehicle.

"Geez, Cinder, you were laying it on really thick there."

Cinder dismissed him nonchalantly, a grin creeping up to her lips. "He's young, if he thinks he could get with me because he performed his task well, then he can use the extra motivation."

"Do you think we can trust him?" Emerald said from beside her.

"Absolutely not, he may be young, but he's no fool. He didn't tell us everything, he left some very important things out."

"Like what?" Mercury asked, holding open a door for Cinder.

"Like where a boy like him got 'mercenaries.' Especially ones willing to take on hunters."

"You don't think those guys were mercs?" Emerald questioned.

"No, they're escaped convicts, or at least two of them were." Cinder pulled out her scroll again, opening up a page that showed the pictures of two of the men that were in the room.

"Jack Saxon." Cinder motioned, pulling up a picture. "He's a tribal, wanted for six accounts of murder, several charges of aggravated mutilation of a faunus and two accounts of rape." Cinder pulled up a different picture. "Iron Wolf, an orphan from Vacuo, sentenced to death on twenty two counts of forgery, two assault charges, and nine accounts of political assassination."

Mercury whistled. "He's got the Wolf under his thumb? Dude must be serious."

"Or his benefactor is. These men escaped over two years ago. This Macharius is merely the tip of the iceberg, as it were. He is not to be trusted, or underestimated." Cinder finished, stepping into a waiting car. "We need to be cautious, he may support us now, but only because it benefits him."

(@)

"Do you think they bought it?" Arhus asked from his position along the wall.

"Not at all." Macharius replied, tossing on his jacket. " They will help us for now, but we must remain focused on the mission at hand. If they get in our way, kill them."

"Easier said than done boss, that was Mercury Black they had with them, and he ain't no pushover." Iron Wolf said, idly tossing a spent cartridge up and down.

"You know him?" Arhus asked.

"I know of him, his father and I worked together a couple if times."

"It doesn't matter." Macharius interrupted. "My orders stand, we work with them to bring down beacon, and once that's done, we cut them loose."

(@)

 _'Disgraceful.'_

The thought echoed through Brutus's mind, the word being the only way he could describe the process of what was about to happen to his body.

Scientists and technicians swarmed around his corpse like maggots in a wound. Their bodies pressing together as they shoved past one another to observe his body and analyze his armor in the hopes of reproducing it.

They were going to rob his grave.

He couldn't let that happen. If any kingdom got a hold of his armor and managed to reproduce it, they would have an immediate advantage over not only the others, but his kingdom as well. That could not come to pass.

He would have to do something he didn't want to do. He needed every ounce of power he had to ensure the success of his plans. He had come too far to lose to a bunch of scientists in a glorified tomb.

Concentrating his will, he poured energy into his armor.

(@)

Ironwood marveled at the armor before him, its massive bulk was sculpted in the artistic ways of war, lending to its own strength as well as its beauty.

Currently it sat on a stone throne in the bottom of beacon, a trio of scientist zipping back and forth between monitors and readouts. Spouting off numbers and ideas.

"This is amazing Oz! This armor is incredible! Imagine all that we could do with it! All the possibilites, the military applications alone are enormous!"

"It's not amazing, James, it's a dead student." Ozpin scolded. "We should treat him as an honored warrior and not like a treasure trove to be plundered."

Ironwood turned to scowl at the headmaster, his expression softening when he met his friend's eyes. "You're right, Oz. I didn't mean it that way."

"I know, James." Ozpin patted his back reassuringly. "You think with a military mind, no one can blame you for it."

"Thanks, Ozpin." Ironwood conceded, fixing his gaze on the armor once more. "It is marvelous though, isn't it."

"Yes, marvelous and impossible." A technician answered, walking up to the two with a clipboard in his hand. "This armor wasn't made with any kind of known machinery or forging process, there are no marks, no screws or manufacturing blemishes. The armor itself is blended together in ways that are physically impossible."

"How so?" Ironwood asked, taking the clipboard from the man and reading the charts.

"Well, the armor is made of a composite stone material that is dense beyond what its own size limits it to, we may have thirty pounds of stone compressed into an area the size of my fist." The man said, holding up his hand for emphasis.

"Second of all." He continued. "The armor's inlays, all the brass on it, are physically meshed with the stone so perfectly that there is no way it could be done by hand or by machine."

"And lastly, the most perplexing one of all is its power source. It's exhibiting a type of energy we've never seen before, but that's not as terrifying as what we picked up when we scanned the thing."

"What did you find?" Ozpin asked, his cane shifting uncomfortably in his hands. Brutus Rose never seemed to run out of surprises, when he thought that Brutus had outdone himself, he just kept raising the bar.

"We found heavy, and I mean heavy, beta and gamma wave activity coming from the corpse itself, which is absolutely impossible."

"What does it mean, doctor?" Ironwood asked, handing back the clipboard.

"It's radiation General." The man said, walking over to the corpse and patting the skull, much to Ozpin's annoyance. "This skeleton is not only biologically perplexing, but it's lightly radioactive when it wasn't before, I have no idea what this means bu-"

The man never finished his sentence, the vicious backhand from an armored gauntlet pulped his face and sent him flying off of his feet.

The armor jumped off its throne, moving too fast for something so huge. It threw a bone-shattering punch that pulverized a technicians chest, caving it in and flattening his lungs.

Ironwood's pistol flew out of its holster, a shot already lined up with the chest of the armor.

"Stop!" Ozpin shouted, grabbing on to Ironwood's arm and throwing off his aim. "They must have triggered some kind of defense system! If we attack it, it might attack us!"

"You can't really expect me to sit here and do nothing!? Those men will die if we don't help!"

"They're dead already! There's nothing we can do." Ozpin knew it, and James did too. Brutus was too smart of an individual to leave his gear undefended and exposed. The boy guarded his secrets, played his cards close to the chest, they were fools for not expecting this.

Ironwood snarled, ripping his arm away from the professor he took up aim again.

Only to drop it when he saw that all the men were already dead.

The armor was back on its throne, its bloody work fulfilled. It resumed its previous position, but now covered in gore and viscera. Ozpin eyed it warily, making sure that its rampage was over.

"Damn it..." Ironwood whispered, placing his pistol in his holster. "Just...Damn it.."

Ozpin agreed, the reality of the situation and the individual dawning on him. Brutus Rose was a dangerous individual, even in death. Brutus planned for eventualities that even he wouldn't have foreseen.

But the armor's death fueled fury had sparked a question, it had savaged the scientists with its fists, not a weapon. Previous videos Qrow had shown him had shown Brutus using a sword, its absence on the body had been quickly filed away as it having been part of the armor, the material appearing to be the same.

But this was not true. The sword of Brutus was nowhere to be seen.

So where was it?

Had his killer kept it? Or did they leave it where they killed him? Ozpin didn't think so, a hunter's weapon was supremely expensive and sold for quite a high price.

Or had Brutus hidden it away? It's might too terrible to leave in anyone's hands?

Ozpin didn't know, but maybe Brutus's book would help him find some answer's.

Shaking his head, Ozpin stepped into the elevator. More mistakes, more and more mistakes.

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _This chapter sucked to write, especially the last bit. I keep thinking that I don't convey enough detail, and I leave too much blank. I don't know, but I'm anxious to continue on in the story, to where things get...Spoopy._**


	38. 38

_"And on that day, I learned something during my liberation of the dust mines. My observing of the interactions between captor and captive, man and faunus. If I was to build what I planned, then I would have needed the populations of the mines as well as any human resources I could obtain along the way. The captive faunus would have harbored bitter resentment against humanity, and likely would have rioted against their peers. I could not allow this to happen, so in order to combat the petty tribal rivalries, I did what had to be done. I erased their individuality, destroyed their history and dedicated them to something much higher than themselves, to an ideal, a goal. I erased their plague of tribal identities and replaced them with a homogeneous, uniform identity."_

Ozpin turned the page in Brutus's book, his mug of coffee steaming in his hand as he took a sip from it.

It would seem that of all the strange and wondrous things that Brutus had created, there were still several they did not know about, but what was he building that required such a large population? What device would require hundreds, if not thousands of individuals?

 _"Once their monolithic culture was in place and growing, I appointed Amber as my second, and took my leave. She has done well to earn my trust, and my confidence. I am sure that someone of her power and aptitude will be able to mould them into an able body_ in my absence. _I have located a bandit tribe on the eastern most coast of Mistral, and I will be heading there soon to...gather information, by force if I have to._ "

" _Their leader is Raven Branwen, and all personal ties to my family put aside, she is a key intellect on the criminal dealings in Vale, and as such will be quite useful in the procurement of...certain knowledge_. _I hope that either she or her underlings are keen on cooperating, because I will not ask twice."_

So Brutus knew of Raven and her tribe? It didn't surprise him, Brutus somehow knew of a slew of things that he shouldn't have. He was an ingenius and powerful individual, a warrior in his own right.

Ozpin hummed, the end of the passage not sitting well within his mind. He had heard of Brutus being a rather impatient individual, despite the evidence to the contrary and Raven herself was quite stubborn and stern. She would not give up information easily.

Worry dawned in his stomach as the situation became clearer and clearer. The two meeting presented a volatile mix that required but a spark to ignite. Brutus was powerful but Raven was a seasoned huntress, and the fight would most likely end in her favor.

"Glynda!" Ozpin called. "Get me Qrow BBranwen on the line!"

(@)

Shar rolled her eyes as she listened to another one of Elijah's strange stories. She ignored him mostly, but pretended to listen, indulging him whenever he posed a question or sought justification. He was a bit...eccentric, and she normally wouldn't have been caught dead in the company of someone like him. She sighed loudly within her helmet when she realized that she probably would have had to eventually, his apparent skill making the leap to Imperial Champion barely a step.

He meant well, and seemed to take his job with a light hearted seriousness that was very unbefitting of a member of the legion, especially one of his station. She nodded along idly as he went on another tangent about how he used to go and cut wood with his dad. She figured that he had a background in physical labor, his arms were well toned and quite large, and the large gladius he carried at his hip was well worn, either from practice or use from his profession.

The steel pommel clanked against his steel cuirass, just about the only armor a legionaire wore with the exception of his vambraces, leaving his arms bare in the sunlight as they walked.

On his other hand he carried a large tower shield, standard issue for the legion.

He was a fine specimen, his dark hair and broad chest denoting that he was good stock, and he was not only tall, but very muscular. Were it not for his laissez faire attitude, he would have been the poster child for the military of the Jaccar Sovereignty.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but when are we going to be there?" She interjected, breaking him from his silence with a start.

He put his hand to his chin in thought, his mind bringing up maps and charts he had memorized. "Well we passed the last outpost a day back, so..." He said, trailing off. "We should be coming up on Vale in a little bit." He finished with a wide smile.

"How long is a little bit?" She growled, her annoyance flaring, though it was masked by her helmet's speakers. "We have a schedule to keep."

"An hour or two, give or take." He shrugged. "Why do we have to keep to a schedule anyway?"

Shar went silent for a moment, not answering him as she thought about the situation. She hadn't told him why they were going to Vale, but should she? He seemed a bit dimwitted to be honest, but she couldn't have him interfering with her plans by accident. He was strong, and didn't question orders, but he was still human, and humans made mistakes, it was part of their nature, likely spawned due to the duality of their creation.

"My father, the king, has tasked us with infiltrating beacon Academy, we are to fulfill a vital role in the annexation of Vale, as well as the removal of their ruling bodies." She explained. "We will be coordinating our efforts with a burnout squad already within the city, to further embed us with Beacon and Vale as a whole."

"Okay..." He hummed. "That makes sense and all, but if we got guys on the inside already, why are we going to infiltrate the city?"

"Because they're a burnout squad." She said. "Criminals, black ops units, disposable." She added when she saw his confusion. "If they fail, it's no great loss to Jaccar, and if they succeed, they can be swept under the rug without a sound."

It didn't look like it set well with him. "So we're giving our own criminals guns and training?"

"No, we're giving the _kingdoms_ criminals guns and training, precisely because they are known to the kingdoms. They aren't aware that they are a burnout squad, except their commanding officer and his subordinate." She said, crushing a gnarled root underfoot.

He hummed, but didn't ask any further questions, content to walk alongside her along the path.

Time between them passed slowly, the crunching of the loose dirt beneath them being the only sound in the air, their pack animal having been left back at the outpost they last stopped by.

Shar entertained herself by thinking of her soon to be sibling, and whether it would be a boy or a girl, what they'd be like and what they would be named.

She, Amber, the child and her father would be one family, presiding over one people. A glorious vision as any she has had. One she could hope for.

Hope. That funny word. The human habit of believing that even when things that have been set in stone for thousands of years will change simply because they want them to.

A strange concept.

It was so much different than the aether, where things changed because you made them change, and forced them to bend to your will. It was the way of things in the aether, where will was power and power was ability.

Her father believed in that, hell it was an aspect of her father. He changed things by his will and when they would not change, he forced them to through his power. Proving his superiority over that which defied him.

It was why Vale was to be annexed, it was why the legions were formed. Her father would not be bested and lorded over by the laws of a people in a realm he wasn't even native to, so he made his own realm with his own laws, his own kingdom.

But her father also recognized a truth, an eventuality. Jaccar was growing beyond itself, a second city to the north was already under construction and Vale would notice sooner or later.

She didn't know the extent of her father's plans, but she knew he wanted Vale.

And she knew he would take it, by any means necessary.

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _I liiiiiiiive!_**

 ** _Shar has almost made it to Vale and Ozpin is catching on to the truth, not the whole truth that he's got an angry fucking skeleton in his basement, but the one that Raven may have lied._**

 ** _Review and fav. Peace._**


	39. The heirophant

The strength of Brutus's presence darkened the aether, covering the already hectic plane with an overlaying husk of his own will, coalescing and knotting in its own pleasure filled throes that filled the world and leaked beyond the veil. It pulsed like a living thing, as it was, for all intents and purposes _living,_ but for all its grandeur, it was not _alive._ It reacted and thrived, but only in a capacity too small to be considered any kind of sentience. It did not think, it did not understand. It did not know anything beyond its own fleeting perceptions, and the orders of its creator.

Were one to have peeled back its stunted excuse for a mind, they would have seen a lump of nodes that told it how to react. It possessed no will of its own, and only lived to serve.

It squeezed through its chaotic and unnatural womb, splitting apart reality momentarily as it breached its interdimensional birth canal. It stalled for a moment in mid-air, its aetheric drives sparking in an attempt to maintain its elevation before firing and humming to life, a bright glow emanating from its core. It gazed at its surroundings, a brief spark of some mockery of curiosity and intrigue flaring to life in its simple mind for a fleeting instant, before being crushed by the will of its master.

Lightning kicked and arced from its single eye, dancing and sparking against the elevator door, cutting its way into the shaft, so as to carry out its mission.

Once through the molten mess, it ascended up the shaft.

(@)

Qrow glared at his sister from across Ozpin's office, his eyes shooting daggers at the side of Raven's head, her own gaze refusing to acknowledge his presence. She stood impatiently, hip cocked and hand resting on the hilt of her sword. She barely listened to Ozpin drone on about the good of the kingdom and how he needed to know everything she saw about what happened to Brutus. Qrow didn't believe his sister had disclosed every detail, or that Brutus's body had been taken along with his belongings. She had most likely sold his sword and anything else he had on him to some black-market dealer or peddler for some quick cash, and Qrow had no doubt that his sister wasn't above looting the dead.

Raven nodded along automatically at Ozpin's recollection of what she had told him, his questions glazing over all the details she had given and some being little more than presumptions.

"So, everything seems to be true, your recollection of what happened to Brutus had not deviated from your first telling, so I can only assume you're telling the truth." Ozpin sighed, wiping his glasses and leaning forward in his chair. "Although there is one thing I am not quite sure of."

"And what is that?" Raven growled, her eyes narrowing.

"Why Brutus was there in the first place, and as for that fact, how he managed to get there? It's not exactly a short walk, even if you were in Vale." Qrow piped up from his place against the wall. "I know you could do it, Raven, but I doubt you've been keeping an eye on Tai's only son."

"Brutus _is not_ Tai-Yang's son, that I am sure of." Raven snapped, wheeling around to face Qrow. "There is no way someone that powerful came from his loins."

"Have you seen Yang? The kid is a powerhouse, and she is most certainly his daughter." Qrow's eye's narrowed. "Right?"

Raven shook her head. "Yang is Tai's, but there is no way Brutus is as well, he's too powerful, too strong, too damn _murderous_ to be Tai-Yang's son." She growled.

Qrow waved his hand. "Yang was just as strong as Brutus was, she never lost against hi-"

"Has Yang ever decapitated someone with a stare!?" Raven shouted suddenly, her knuckles white as they wrapped around her sword handle. Sweat had broken out on her forehead, and her eyes blazed with an emotion Qrow never thought he'd have seen his sister wear.

Fear.

"Raven..." Qrow trailed off, his eyes locked onto the shaking crimson orbs of his sister. "..What happened?"

Raven shook her head and sighed, calming herself down. "I was checking on one of our stockpiles, and it was then that I saw him. He was standing over everyone in the place, had them all gathered in the center like dogs." She shook as she recalled the memory. "Some of the people were dead already, adults and fighters...but..." She grimaced.

"He was going to kill a child." She finished.

Qrow gasped and Ozpin leaned back in his chair, his head resting in his hand. "..Raven, if what you say is correct...then why haven't you told us this before?" Ozpin asked, his voice low.

"I was going to stop him, but he spared the child after her father begged for her not to be harmed, but then I saw him do something that chilled me to the bone, something that _still_ gives me nightmares." Raven continued, ignoring Ozpin. Her glare not settled in anyone in the room, but at an unseen ghost in her memory.

Qrow stepped up to support his sister, his arm wrapping around her shoulders. "What happened Raven?" He said.

"He said the man was of no further use, and stared at him...and then, the man's head just rolled off his shoulders, and fell to the ground."

 _"A truthful lie, if ever there was one."_

Raven and Qrow whirled on the voice, weapons flashing into their hands. In the elevator shaft floated a strange object. A bright, pulsing core surrounded in bits of carved stone that orbited the core in lazy arcs that hastened when it moved. It cleared the distance between Raven and the elevator in the blink of an eye, its core separating as a curious and baleful eye shoved its way to the surface. It regarded Raven for a moment, the stone bits whirring agitatedly.

" _A deceitful saint among the blind. Truly a hallmark of the past."_

"What are you?" Raven growled as she unsheathed her sword, pointing the tip at the floating orb.

 _"I am an instrument of Brutus's will, created by him so as to send a message."_

Qrow huffed. "A little late to send a message now, isn't it? You're a couple years too late."

 _"Nonsense, I received my orders, and my existence merely moments ago."_

The room went silent, the air becoming heavy with an aura of apprehension. "Impossible." Raven breathed. "Brutus has been dead for over two years."

The orb turned to regard her, its single baleful eye focusing on her visage.

 _"Impossible, Brutus cannot die."_ It sped across the room, hesitating just outside of Raven's reach. _"But you already know that. After all, how couldn't you?"_

"You said you had a message for us, from Brutus Rose himself, correct?" Ozpin interrupted, waving his hand to get the orb's attention. "Please, tell us what it is."

The orb retreated from Raven's pale face, floating back into the center of the room.

 _"The message is as follows."_ The machine stated.

" _Do not interfere."_

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _Man, fuck this chapter. It went through like 300 iterations before I finally said fuck it and posted this short one._**

 ** _Hopefully, things will kick off again soon. With Brutus not only enacting his plans, but also his...spiritual revival._**

 ** _PM me any ideas you have or any OC's. I can't guarantee they'll show up in this story, but I may use them for others._**


	40. Duty

_"An idea, a concept, is deadly by virtue of its mere existence."_

Macharius exhaled as he set down his crate, his hand coming up to wipe away the dense sheen of sweat off his forehead. Mountain Glenn was bustling with activity as White Fang soldiers loaded crates of ammo and weaponry into the leading cars of a train. The trailing cars being fitted with Iron Wolf's latest marvel of DIY terrorism. The White Fang were using the caverns underneath Mountain Glenn as the staging ground for an attack on Vale, and the sauad had gotten the assignment to help them with it.

Arhus grunted as he set down his own crate beside him, his body much more suited to the labor than Macharius's. His body shined with sweat, but not nearly as much as Macharius did. Arhus's massive arms, courtesy of the Dust mines, made short work of boxes and crates that had to be moved.

"I don't understand it." Arhus sighed, taking a swig from his canteen and scowling at the oily water's taste.

"What do you mean, Seargent?" Macharius asked.

"Some of these faunas are from the Schnee mines, right? Why would they run away from a place where all they did was work to a place where all they do is work? It doesn't make sense."

"You tell me, Seargent." Macharius said, taking a drink from his own canteen. "You're from the mines too, yet here you are, loading crates."

"I joined up with Brutus, Colonel. He rescued me and Litla from chains, so if he wants me to shack up with some terrorists and load crates all day, then that's what I'm going to do."

Macharius nodded. "Then there's your answer, the White Fang is to these people as Brutus is to us. They just didn't hear about him."

"Damn shame too. All of these people could be in warm beds and owning homes by now."

"We don't own the homes, Brutus does. He built them after all." Macharius grunted, sitting on his crate. "How do you think he managed to do that anyway?" He added after a few seconds.

"It's those Praetorians, man. Brutus says to do something, and they don't stop until it's done." Arhus replied. "They're like giant power tools."

They both chuckled at that, earning a few confused stares from some of the neighboring fang soldiers.

"What's so funny?" Yelled a particularly irate soldier.

They waved him away, not deeming it fit to offer a response. They began walking towards the other crates, preparing to continue their work. They heard the angry shouting of Roman Torchwick, a common enough occurrence here in the underground, and gave him a wide berth, deciding that the criminal's ire was far too annoying to deal with.

The resounding crack of gunfire however, was.

Shouts of alarm flew through the air as the terrorists around them springing into action, grabbing their carbines and pistols and running towards the distant sounds of a gun fight.

Arhus immediately ducked, his pistol flying into his hand from its holster at his waist. Macharius drawing his rifle from his back, the weapon emitting a small noise as it. A body slammed into the crate next to his as Iron Wolf slid into cover beside Macharius, his own pistol drawn.

"What's going on?" He said, peeking over their rudimentary cover.

"Gunfight." Macharius breathed. "Most likely either Hunters or Atlas, neither of which we can take on right now." He checked around them once, scowling when he didn't see their wayward fourth member. "Where's Saxon?"

"Don't know." Iron Wolf said. "He was supposed to be further along the train than me. Knowing him he's probably knee deep in the fight up ahead."

"There's nothing for it then." Macharius sighed. "Come on, we've got to get this train moving."

They dashed across the space between the crates and the train, clambering up its sides and onto the roof.

Macharius took Arhus's offered hand, cursing when a round ricocheted off of the plating next to him and flaring against his aura. Near the back end of the train came a swathe of colors, their fast paced advance tearing into the terrorists blocking their path, battering them aside. Macharius swore as he recognised the sight, and the weapons.

"We've got fucking huntresses!" He shouted, clambering onto the roof of the train. His rifle barking as he tossed a round downrange. One of the hunters caught it in her shoulder, her golden hair flying wildly as she whipped around with the force of the impact, her aura flaring as it took the damage for her.

Macharius didn't waste any time as he slammed the bolt back in his rifle, laying down on the train and using the underslung halberd blade as a makeshift bipod. He fired again, shattering a concrete support off to the side of the tallest huntress.

The train lurched beneath him, rusted wheels protesting as they ground against the rails, slowly gaining rhythm and speed.

Macharius grunted as the movement of the train threw off his aim, accidentally sending a high-caliber round into the back of a white fang soldier, slamming the soldier forward and taking him out of the fight.

"Whoops." Macharius sighed.

"Look! It's Saxon!" Iron Wolf shouted.

Jack Saxon locked in a duel with some hunter in a coat with green hair. His machete slamming into the hunters club. The hunter feinted and spun, wracking Jack in the ribs. Jack grunted and lashed out with an elbow, catching his opponent in the temple. He swung his machete again, going for a beheading strike aimed at the back of the man's neck, the blow hitting air as the hunter drew back, slinging his club into the back of Jack's knee and dropping him to the ground.

Jack rolled away from the follow up strike, coming up with his pistol and emptying the magazine in the hunter's direction.

The hunter dived behind a fallen concrete pillar, the rounds that didn't impact his aura chipping harmlessly at the hardened structure. Jack swore as his pistol clicked empty. Tossing away the weapon, he rolled, standing up and trying to sprint away, trying to catch hold of the train before it escaped him.

The shotgun blast to his back stopped him, shattering his aura and dropping him to the ground.

(@)

Yang whooped as she dropped the large man, her gauntlets blast knocking him to the ground. She was definitely going to get bonus points for this, the dude was giving professor Oobleck trouble and then whoosh, in she flew with a haymaker and knocked him away like paper.

He groaned from his spot on the ground, his arms bunching up under him as he began to lift himself off the ground. He flopped back down a second later, electing instead to roll over and glare at her. It looked especially muted from his place on his back.

"Alright, bucko. I'm going to give you one chance to tell me where that train is going, or I'll knock your lights out." Yang said, grinning as she pulled her fist back.

He stayed silent.

"Alright, don't say I didn't warn you!"

The mans body jolted, his mouth letting out an agonized grunt as a bullet tore its way into shoulder and out of his chest, blowing a chunk of meat out of his side and leaving a fist sized hole in him. The man gasped once, his body heaving upwards as he tried to stand.

With a final sigh, he slumped back to the ground.

Yang's head snapped up to the train, where a man stood with a large rifle in his hands, racking the bolt back. She wiped the blood off of her face, the shock of seeing a man die for the first time not yet setting in. She left the body, rushing up to the train, grasping a service ladder she hauled herself up and over.

(@)

Macharius slammed the bolt of his rifle home, his work done. He couldn't allow Saxon to be captured, he knew not only Jaccar's location, but was evidence of its involvement as well. He was forced to exercise his authority over the squad, as well as following orders the princess herself gave to himn making sure that the objective is not discovered. Macharius glanced back to his remaining two squad members, Arhus nodding at his decision and Iron Wolf not saying anything.

"We cannot be captured. I did what I did because I had to do it. We can't let Jaccar be discovered, not yet. Everything the king plans is hinging on that fact." Macharius said. " For the glory of Jaccar." He added a second later. "For the glory of the king."

Iron Wolf didn't seem to accept his explanation, the mans glare betraying the fact that he had figured out what would have happened to him had he been down there. Macharius didn't care that Iron Wolf was aware about his predicament. If Iron Wolf tried to leave, he'd be killed, if he was captured, he'd be killed, if he betrayed them, he'd be killed. His only hope of living was to see the mission through. Jack Saxon had been the teams muscle, as well as their meatshield, so it was no great loss that he died. Iron Wolf was chosen for his technical ability as well as his experience with explosives.

"He was an unstable liability anyway." Arhus said, to which Macharius nodded.

"Agreed, now we need to make our way to the front of the train, it is imperative that we do not get caught on these lower cars-"

Macharius flinched as a ball of flaming dust soared over his head, singing his hairs and causing the whole squad to duck. He whipped around, rifle barking at the figures that had boarded the train.

"Damn it, there's five of them and three of us. Let's make a tactical retreat for now, and get off this stupid train!"

The sauad turned and ran towards the front of the train, jumping across cars and making it past a line of Paladins.

"Quick, get in!" Macharius said, prying open the cockpit and climbing inside, the others shuffling in beside him. It was a cramped fit with three men crammed into a space meant for one.

Macharius scrambled for the controls, his fingers already engaging the ignition. The machine roaring to life.

"You can drive one of these?!" Iron Wolf shouted, wrapping his arms in the rigging above them.

The machine took two steps forward, its weight jostling the train car it was on and causing it to list dangerously.

"No, but it's a hell of a lot better than jumping!"

The paladin pitched over the side, dragging its screaming occupants with it.

(@)

The Aether stirred, waking Shar from her rest. Her sculpted face creasing with a scowl that was more at home on her Father's face. Her eyes narrowed as she beheld the winding figure hidden just behind the veil that separated reality and its inconceivable reflection.

"It's about time you show up, you serpent."

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _Jack just got jacked!_**


	41. In the belly of the beast

Ruby shouted in alarm, her voice cracking as she saw the giant robot tip over the side of the train, its huge body bouncing over the decrepit rails of the tunnel behind her, an explosion from a detached train car blowing the war machine against the side of the tunnel, barely clearing the falling rubble.

"The tunnel!" Yang screamed from behind her. "The grimm are getting through!"

"We have to stop this train!" Weiss shouted, her hair whipping around her. "It can't reach Vale!"

Ruby knew that, if this train made it into Vale it would dump not only terrorists but open up a breach directly into the heart of the Kingdom. People would get hurt, her friends could get hurt. Her friends could die.

This wasn't supposed to happen! They were just supposed to find a white fang base, not play tag on a speeding train! Anyone of them could fall off and be ground up into gristle. This was too dangerous for them, this was far beyond what they set out to do. She couldn't do this!

 _Brutus would do it._

The thought crashed to the surface of her mind, her eyes closing as an ache spread behind them. Why did she think that? Her brother had no bearing on the situation. She drowned the thought in a sea of chatter, shoving it down to the depths of her mind, but it just pushed its way to the forefront again and again. She tried reasoning it away, saying again and again that Brutus was gone, moved on.

He was with mom now.

Ruby shook her head, trying to shake loose the melancholy that threatened to take over. Her eyes tearing up and beginning to burn. Why did Brutus have to leave? Why did he have to die? It should have been him here at Beacon with Yang, not her! He deserved, as much as anyone, to have a chance at greatness, a chance of making their mother proud.

Brutus would have known what to do, he always knew what to do. He never panicked, he never got overwhelmed. He always knew when to act and how to act.

She didn't deserve to lead this team, she didn't deserve to be here at Beacon. She was here on a fluke, an accident. She was just in the right place at the right time. She couldn't do this on her own!

 ** _"You are not alone. You never were."_**

Instantly, the Veil behind Ruby shattered, ribbons of colorful light peeling away and screeching off into the air to dissolve into nothing. A blackened gauntlet lurched from the tear and gathered itself in Ruby's cloak, jerking the girl from her feet and into the stuff of madness.

(@)

The world spun and drifted around her, the colored light from a stained glass window fluttered lazily from the high vaulted ceiling. Birds chirped and fluttered from their perches on massive stone pillars, cooing as they eyed her.

Light music echoed throughout the hall, filling the space with the soft demure of string instruments. Ruby could hear water trickling down, a waterfall outside one of the stained glass windows.

Ruby groaned as she sat up, her fingers sinking into a plush cushion as she supported herself. "Ugh..." She grunted, her brain thumping inside her skull. "My head hurts..."

"Mine too..." Someone echoed, who Ruby quickly recognized as her sister, sprawled as she was on the cushions.

"Ditto..." Blake moaned, her hand rubbing the bridge of her nose as she stood. "Where are we?"

"I don't know...Heaven, maybe?" Weiss said, rising to her feet and looking around at the immense hall they were in. Large statues of knights wielding boxy rifles lined every pillar of the hall, their blackened armor seeming to absorb the light that touched it, leaving an inky blackness that swirled just beneath the surface.

Some of the statues had tall red frills sat upon their squat helmets, likely denoting rank or status. Others had golden laurels wrapped around their heads, the flowers reaching from the back of the helmet and settling high on the brow.

Weiss gaped at the size of the statues, each one carved in masterful detail. Every one stood well over three times her height, and each carved of a beautiful dark stone.

"Doubtful, there's a distinct lack of bodybuilders." Yang joked, though it fell flat. The team began to spread out, Ruby and Weiss taking an interest in the statues, Blake and Yang joining them.

"It is not heaven, I assure you, there would be more pickles."

The voice echoed from the end of the hall, reverberating off of the immense stone walls. Everyone spun, weapons raised as they eyed the woman at the end of the hall.

Immediately the statues moved, their boxy rifles becoming a blur as their barrels pointed in their direction, the sound of safeties being clicked off echoing throughout the hall.

"Now, now. There's no need for violence, we are not enemies, I wouldn't bring you here if you were."

"Maybe you just wanted to fight?" Yang quipped coolly, though her eyes did dart to the rifles pointed at her. "Not that it would be much of a fight." She added a after a seconds hesitation.

"Please, I am several months pregnant, my life is stressful enough without my Praetorians engaging in some blood sport."

Ruby narrowed her eyes, and true enough, the woman's belly had a slight bump to it, her hand resting on the swell of it.

The woman had auburn hair, and her eyes were almost copper-like in tone. She wore silk robes that covered her body, and an ornate circlet of gold and sapphires that encircled her temple.

"Who are you?" Ruby asked, lowering her scythe.

The woman gave a stiff bow, not fully able to with her belly so swollen. "I am Amber, High Regent of Jaccar, expecting mother and second to Brutus Rose."

The name struck Ruby like a fist, a pit opening up in her stomach. "B-Brutus Rose?" She asked, tentatively taking a step forward.

"But that's impossible..."

Amber smirked. "You'll find that when it comes to your brother, nothing is impossible."

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "My brother has been dead for two years."

"Really? I'll have to tell him that next time we talk." Amber smirked.

Ruby growled, but even as inept as she was at making conversation, she knew that this was going nowhere. "Why did you bring us here?"

"Oh I didn't, Brutus had you brought here. He had his own personal guards drag you here." Amber explained.

"How did his guards know where to find us?" Weiss asked, speaking up.

"He's had a whole squad watching you from the beginning. Easier to react quickly that way, easier to observe as well, I'd imagine."

"Observe?" Blake asked.

"Oh yes, he's been watching your every move, he's very intelligent, your brother."

The team shuffled awkwardly at that. The idea that someone was watching them felt more than a little creepy, and the fact that he was supposed to be dead only made it worse.

"As nice as this conversation is, the floor is not the nicest on my feet so I am going to retire to the throne room. Akakos here." She pointed to one of the giants, who was decorated in huge waves of blue and white cloth, his plate a spattered mixture of midnight black speckled with bits of the deepest blue. "Will show you to your rooms. If you need anything just tell him and he'll provide it, within reason and his means of course."

The woman turned to leave, but a question from Yang made her turn back to face them.

"Are we prisoners?" She asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Not unless you try anything stupid." She said, turning back to the end of the hall.

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _First off, I want to apologize. The last chapter was so shite-written that I couldn't even fucking follow it, and I wrote the blasted thing. I'll try to rewrite the parts that got deleted, as sometimes happens on my phone. Please forgive me._**

 ** _Secondly, I've decided to abandon my original plotline because the section where Brutus died and what's planned in the future was taking so fucking long that I've decided to initiate some critical mass into the ass of this story and pop it into gear real smooth-like._**

 ** _But hey, team RWBY is finally getting to know the truth, despite the fact that I've had like, what, 2 chapters on them?_**

 ** _I want to know how my characters are, I try to develop them into interesting characters but I feel like they just fall flat... Except Brutus, who is super fun to write because he is always so damn annoyed at everything because he's a meaan dude._**

 ** _Also to the guy who asked how thicc Shar was, I can assure you, that as the embodiment of Brutus's lust for battle, she is thicc as hell, because, well, she's lust. That's her thing._**


	42. A whole new world

Akakos led team RWBY through the halls and winding corridors of the palace, passing chambers whose contents only the Praetorians and the King knew the contents of. He held his rifle loosely in his massive hands, the weapon swaying with each earth-shaking step.

"So.." Weiss began. "Your king is my Partners brother?"

"Yes." Akakos responded, his voice booming off the heavy stone walls. "He is the King of Jaccar, as well as the creator of the Praetorians."

Weiss nodded, glancing over to Yang and Ruby. She never would have guessed that those two were royalty. From Yang's boisterous and lackadaisical attitude and Ruby's shy yet hyper nature, she would have guessed they were little more than city girls or backwoods bumpkins.

"He created you?" Blake chimed in, a skeptical eyebrow raised. "As in, he _actually_ created you, not just organized you into something."

"Yes, he is the Praetorians liege and Father." He blurted. Akakos rounded a corner, another Praetorian running into him, sparks flying from where their chestplates met. Both Akakos and the newcomer lurched slightly backwards, the whine of heavy servos kicking on sounded instantly and they both straightened back up in an instant.

"Helena."

" _Akakos."_ The other Praetorians voice was more feminine, softer at its core. Its, or rather her, chestplate was more pronounced, and its hips more shaped. Her armor was accented with dark violet, ribbons of bone white strips swirled across her body. Her helmet was chiseled into a stoic woman's face. Lengths of gilded chain made of blue steel hung from the back of her head.

"This is not your route, Helena." Akakos stated, shrugging his huge shoulders in a facsimile of annoyance. "Please do not impede me, I have orders from the High Regent to escort these young women to their rooms."

Helena shifted, crossing her gargantuan arms across her chest. "I desired to see you." She said before leaning to the side to look past him. "How long will you be unavailable?"

Akakos shook his massive head. "Unknown. I have been assigned as both guard and steward."

"Are they dignitaries?" Helena asked.

"No. Two of them are the kings sisters, the other two their partners." Akakos responded, a blurt of static issuing out of his helmet.

Helena placed her gauntlets on her hips. "The females have mated with other females? I was under the impression that two of the same genders cannot produce children."

Team RWBY straightened, the air instantly becoming awkward as they shuffled about. "We're _not...those_ kind of partners." Weiss said, rubbing her arm sheepishly. "We're combat partners."

Instantly, Helena shifted her gaze to Weiss. "You are a combatant? When you are so young?" She asked, curiosity playing across her un-moving face. "Why are you not having children?"

"W-Well I didn't desire to." Weiss stammered. "I'm in the prime of my life, and as you said, I'm still young."

"Exactly. So why not have children when you are young? I have read that there are more complications when you are older."

"Well, yes, if you wait to have children when you are forty or fifty, there are complications that can arise. If you even can at that point."

Helena visibly straightened. Her entire body snapping taut. "You cannot have children when you are older?" She asked.

Weiss nodded. "If you're not barren, most women lose the ability once their ovaries dry up."

Helena went silent. Not saying anything as she mulled the information over in her mind.

"I see." She said finally. "That is worrying information."

Akakos interjected before Weiss could ask her what she means. "Enough Helena, you cannot have children regardless. You do not have a vagina, or ovaries, and I do not have a penis or testicles. We cannot breed." Akakos, in a scarily human gesture, raised a finger to cut her off. "And slamming our hips together does not count as breeding."

Helena's body sagged ever so slightly at Akakos's lecturing. Her immaculate posture failing at having her dreams dashed.

"Perhaps the king can give us a method of reproduction." Helena said, somewhat hopeful.

Akakos shook his head. "The king is extremely busy as is, and once his child is born, he will be busy even more so. Perhaps once this is all over, you can go and see the king." He finished, motioning with his hand for her to step aside. "I have to continue with my orders, step aside."

Helena did so, stomping past Akakos with a cloud above her head. Disappearing down the hall.

"What was that all about?" Yang asked, crossing her arms. "And what does she mean when my brother's kid is born?"

"High Regent Amber is currently pregnant with the Kings child. The Royal doctor has called a meeting of the Praetorians tonight to tell us of the details of how we can better serve her during her pregnancy. Helena is determined to be the wet nurse." Akakos responded, pushing open a set of doors and rounding a corner.

"Oh..." Yang said incredulously, her eyes going wide at the implications. "That's just...Wow."

"Yeah.." Ruby agreed quietly, fidgeting with her scythe. "We're going to be Aunts.."

 _'No shit, Ruby.'_ Yang thought. She was going to be an aunt. The brother she thought was dead for two years finally reappeared and brought with him a pregnant woman by his side.

 _'Not to mention a whole kingdom.'_ Gods, Brutus was weird.

"So." Blake spoke. "Brutus is a king? There is no democratic system at all? That seems a bit..." She searched for the right word. "... _Tyrannical._ " She finally spat.

Akakos didn't miss a beat, however. "Actually, Jaccar is a monarchical republic. Citizens of Jaccar, and only full citizens of Jaccar vote in their own sheriffs, judges and governors, as well as officials on the court minor, the kings legislative assistants."

"What do you mean by 'A full citizen?'" Blake asked.

"In order to become a citizen of Jaccar, you must either be born on sovereign Jaccar soil, or have passed a citizenship test. The only ways to lose citizenship is be convicted of a crime against the crown or state, or be proven to currently be an enemy of the state."

"What does it take to become an enemy of the state?" Ruby spoke up.

"Only the king can declare a person or group to be an enemy of the state." Akakos spoke, turning a corner and pushing open a large set of wooden doors.

The room beyond was immense, gilded livery and beautiful art lined the walls. In the center of the room a granite fountain spewed forth sparkling water in graceful arcs high in the air, the water entering receptacles built into the walls at least twenty feet up.

"Wow." They all breathed. The group entering the room.

A low pitched chirp stopped them in their tracks.

From behind the fountain came two creatures, their bodies covered in violet and yellow feathers that shifted and changed colors constantly. Their tails swung behind them, shifting in the air with an impossible grace, seeming to flit back and forth with unreal speed. Their feet were tri-toed with vicious claws that matched a pair of small arms tipped with small crystals.

They snapped at the praetorian, mouths opening up to reveal row upon row of serpent-like crystalline teeth. They growled and snapped at the groups guard, the spines on their backs vibrating as they hissed.

"They are particularly grouchy today." Akakos said, before fishing out a piece of meat from his belt and tossing it at the creatures.

Instantly the monsters descended upon the morsel, both catching the other end and trying to pull the flesh away from the other, hissing and scratching all the while.

"What are they!?" Blake screeched, hiding behind Yang.

Akakos gestured towards the pair of snacking carnivores. "They are the kings personal pets, Tulip and Orchid, they help keep the palace free of mice and stray cats."

"They eat cats!?" Blake shrieked.

"It is one of their favorites." Akakos said, unperturbed at the faunas's shock. "Though they'll eat anything really."

"Are they mean?" Ruby asked quietly.

"No." Akakos replied. "They are perfectly docile." He reached out and rubbed ones narrow reptile-like head. "They just don't like being un-fed."

Akakos turned from the creatures and gestured around the room. "These are your rooms." He gestured towards the doors set in the wall. "Please feel free to enjoy the fountain and any amenities we can offer. You are free to roam the palace, but I do ask that you do not disturb the palace messengers."

"Messengers?" Yang began to ask, but the sound of a small door opening interrupted her.

From a small door set low into the wall, a stone rolled onto the floor, righting itself once it reached the Praetorian. It was a large stone, coarse and rough but rounded off so that it could roll.

The group paled at what else they saw.

Set in a mouth were two rows of human teeth, set in a lipless grin that stretched to either side of the rock.

No eyes, no ears, just a toothy smile.

 _"The court minor has requested your assistance, high one. They have requested you personally."_ It said, it's mouth moving unnaturally human-like.

Akakos sighed, a strange sound that sounded even stranger coming through the speakers in his helmet. "Whatever it is, I'm sure that the Scarlet Guard can handle it, pull three off of regular patrol and send them in my place."

The rocks creepy smile didn't drop. " _They are insistent that it be you, high one."_

"And I am insistent that it be the Scarlet Guard, I have standing orders from the High Regent herself."

The rock didn't reply, instead it rolled away, disappearing through a small doggy door set into the opposite wall.

"What was that?" Weiss whispered, her hand over her mouth in shock.

"A messenger, inventions of my lord's." Akakos turned to face the group. "Now please retire to your rooms."

"Wait!" Yang shouted, stopping the already dispersing group in their tracks. "When will I be able to see my brother?"

Akakos remained silent for a time before finally answering.

"Tomorrow."

 **A/N:**

 **Fuck. Me.**


	43. Power

_"I remember those days, all fire and fury and with the whole fate of the Empire hanging by a thread. Those were good times." - Elijah Of Karth, Champion Of Jaccar, on the formation of the Empire._

It was a strange thing, passing through the veil between worlds, in one moment it was like being boiled alive and in the next it was freezing. In an instant however, she was through, and the once cool air of the palace changed to to a fetid substance, thick with the stomach churning smell of burnt ozone.

She noticed the difference almost immediately. The way the smooth flagstone of the palace changed to a hard substance that swirled under her feet, and that the retina searing symbols that decorated her supposed dead brother's armor lined the walls, shifting in response to an unseen tide beyond the boundaries of the room.

Then it hit her, the atmosphere becoming cloyingly thick with a palpable feeling of power, the air buzzing with energy. It was like she was standing in a power station, inches away from the generators. Small bits of electricity, though it seemed far too malicious to be called such, raged in tiny storms in the air, small blurts of half-heard whispers echoing in the air before wiping themselves from non-existsnce.

Her team felt it too, their reactions not too different from stepping into a furnace, their teeth gritting in a desperate attempt to fend off the oppressive feeling that almost forced them to their knees, a small inkling of thought in the back of their minds telling them to flee, to run in the face of this wrathful god.

 _"Quiet!"_ Yang heard Weiss hiss, teeth clenched as she held her head in her hands, shaking it slightly. _"Be silent!"_

"Weiss..." Yang breathed, her hand reaching out to comfort her friend. It landed on her shoulder, and Yang almost recoiled from the heat and tension in Weiss's body, like a spring made of molten metal. "Weiss, what's wrong?"

"Can't you hear them? The words, the voices? _Please_ tell me you can hear them." Weiss shook her head again, attempting to dispel the noise. "Please...They're so loud, make them stop. It hurts mommy...it hurts."

Tears flowed freely from Weiss's eyes now, muddying and mixing with her makeup to run black down her face. She fell to her knees, her shoulders heaving with broken sobs. "I don't want to go away...I want to stay here." She rasped, weeping into her hands.

"Yang..." Blake breathed, snapping Yang's attention from Weiss.

Blake was doubled over on the ground, groaning. Her body retched once and she vomited onto the runed floor, the bile sizzling and boiling. She rolled over onto her shoulder, hiccupping once before vomiting again, coughing as it filled her mouth and ran down her mouth.

"Blake!" Yang fell to her friends side, rolling her forward and patting her hand against her back. "Blake, breathe!"

Blake didn't respond.

 _"And the weak shall fear him, and the strong shall fear him, for they will look in the fields and mountains, and find him not. They will look in the rivers and oceans and find him not. They will look in the sky and the stars, and find him not."_

"R-Ruby?"

" _The weak and strong shall fear him, for they shall look in themselves, and find him."_

Ruby's eyes were dilated, glazed over and bloodshot, furiously moving around in her skull.

 _"And they shall look in themselves, and find the name on him to be one of their own making, and that the atrocities of their earliest ancestor be the blood that runneth from thine eyes and mouth, will be the blood that runneth from his hands and stains the peoples."_

Ruby collapsed suddenly, the muscles that supported her giving out as she fell against the ground. Her body bounced once, her lips still moving in a facsimile of spesch, forming sounds not dared spoken by human tongues for thousands of generations.

" _Primum Mors."_

Ruby gasped, then fell still.

"Ruby?" Yang whispered, gingerly shaking her sister, trying to get a response. "Ruby, please wake up.."

What was happening here!? Things had gone to shit the second they came here. Her entire team had gone nuts and now she was left alone to pick up the pieces. Ruby didn't respond, the only indication she was alive was ths soft rise and fall of her chest.

"This was a mistake." Yang whispered, still trying to shake her sister awake. "This was a mistake."

 ** _"Attempting to enter the Aether without the proper mental preparation can lead to several painful and mind-wrenching outcomes, or in Ruby's case, dissemination of reality."_**

Yang spun around at the voice, eyes wide.

(@)

"This is bad Ozpin! There's been a breach in the tunnel, and my nieces are nowhere to be found!"

"Qrow, please calm down, your nieces are some of the most talented and resourceful students I have ever come across. They'll be fine."

Qrow ignored him, continuing to pace angrily inside the office. His hand flew out to the chair, hurling it against the wall. "Calm down?! Ozpin you sent my family into a damn death trap! Knowingly! You even went against your own rules to do it!"

Ozpin frowned, his mug forgotten on his desk. "It was a minor breech at best Qrow, the tunnels have been sealed and the remaining grimm are being cleared out as we speak. We'll find your nieces."

"Just like how we found Brutus.." Qrow spat. "Down in the dark."

Ozpin shot out of his chair, coffee and papers flying everywhere as he jabbed a finger at qrow. "I had nothing to do with that! Brutus found the Maiden, and he paid the price for it!"

"Damn it Ozpin! How many of my family have to die becahse you push the risks too far!" Qrow shouted back. "First Summer, then Brutus, and now Ruby and Yang!"

Qrow pushed himself away from Ozpin, turning to enter the elevator. "Raven was right about you, you really would sacrifice everyone for a scrap of anything."

The door closed on a solemn silence.

(@)

 ** _A/N: I'm back boiiiissssss._**


	44. Primus Chapter 44

Tears welled in Yang's eyes, her vision becoming blurred as they fell dowm her cheeks. Her breath was stifled, caught somewhere between gasping and exhaling. She couldn't believe it.

He was here.

Milky white eyes stared back at her, their usual sternness replaced with a soft gaze that seemed foreign on his face. His trademark frown was there but it was less cruel and more somber than it used to be.

He smiled, and Yang threw herself around him, sobbing.

"You're alive..." She gasped, unable to give voice to the questions in ber mind, quieting them with a mental shove when they threatened to remove the peace of the moment. "I can't believe it..."

"I see your faith in me is as lackluster as ever." Brutus chuckled, earning a light slap from his sister.

Faith? She always had faith in him, he was her brother, and she was his sister. "I never stopped having faith in you."

He hummed his response, the neutrality of the sound promised more on that subject later. Brutus glanced to the others, passed out on the floor in varying poses. "I see that Ruby and her team are doing..." He waved a hand in the air as he tried to find the correct word. "Well."

Yang shook her head, burying it further in his chest. "They'll be okay, right?"

"They will." Brutus affirmed. "The effects of the crossing should subside with little consequences, save for Ruby of course, her ride was a bit more bumpy than the others."

Yang glanced back to her sister. "What happened to her anyway?"

Brutus shrugged. "She opened herself up to the psychic chaff that infests this place, and her body read the currents. The others allowed their own psychic spoor to overwhelm them."

"Why wasn't I affected?" Yang asked.

"You bulldoze your way through everything, why would this be any different?"

Yang hummed in response, finally releasing her grip as she took a step backwards.

Brutus had grown, as impossible as it seemed, where once he was a few inches taller than her, he now towered over her. His body was rippling muscle and hardened bone, and she could not shake the feel of it against her cheek through his clothes. He wore simple clothing, though hus body stretched it horribly.

"Amber brings me new clothes from time to time." He said before she could comment. "I've been growing a lot lately."

"I'll say." Yang added. "Your like seven feet tall now."

"Seven feet and nine inches, actually."

Yang snorted, shaking her head. He really was growing up wasn't he? "So, you're going to be a dad soon? Geez, Brutus, two years ago you had Bun-Bun riding your dick and now you've got a queen knocked up, you move fast."

Brutus laughed, the bass of it shaking her bones. "Yes, I suppose I do." He said, still chuckling. "After Bun-Bun, I met Amber, and she found that I had needs that she could fill, I suppose a relationship blossomed from there."

Yang shook her head, quickly glancing back as she heard the others start to stir. Weiss stood first, swaying on wobbly legs that looked unsteady enough to give out from underneath her. She blinked several times before dusting herself off. Blake and Ruby rose soon after, though the latter held her head, groaning.

"I see the lightweights are stirring from their slumber." Brutus said, returning to his throne. "I am a king with much spare time, so feel free to converse." Brutus rose a finger, and the room shifted, stone chairs forming from the floor in front of his throne. "Come, sit." He gestured.

"I..." Blake began, eyeing the newly formed chairs with fear and suspicion. "How?"

Brutus leaned back in the throne, a content sigh escaling his lips. "You'll find that I am far beyond restrictions, even comprehension." He waved his hand. "Though that may be hubris on my part."

Blake's eyes narrowed, not liking the vague answer.

Weiss picked up the slack in the conversation, sparing a nervous glance to her team. "I understand that you're a king? As in, a leader of a kingdom?"

"Yes, I built Jaccar, alongside Amber, who has ruled in my absence, albeit under my guidance." Brutus replied.

"You built an entire kingdom? How?"

"Anything can be done if the will is strong enough, I am testament to that." Brutus chuckled, only for his laughter to stop. "I am testament to alot of things." He added after a brief silence.

"The other kingdoms won't be happy that you're essentially seceding from them." Weiss continued. "How do you plan on dealing with them without conflict?"

Brutus's reply was curt and decisive. A bark of authority and malice that left chills down Weiss's spine.

"I do not."

"You mean to wage war on the kingdoms? You'll be killed! You have one city, they have an entire kingdom!"

"Quite bold of you..." Brutus began, head resting in one palm. "To assume I fear death."

"Brutus..Anyone can die, even you." Ruby said pleadingly. "We thought you were dead for the past two years, don't make that true. Please."

Brutus shot up from his seat, hands folding behind his back. "I am far beyond even the penumbra of mortality, even in death, I persist." He said, voice dropping dangerously. "Death is but a setback in time, and time is but distance to me now, I traverse it unendingly, unlike you." He took a step down from his throne, closing in on them.

"If I am killed, what does it matter? It will be a temporary victory for my enemies, and anything less than total victory is failure and cowardice. If I die, I will just go elsewhere, start again and again and again until I am successful."

"War would throw the world into chaos, you'd destroy the peace!" Blake cried out.

"Peace for Peace's sake is a farce, you of all people should understand that more than anyone." He said, fixing her with a glare that threatened to tear her apart. A painful lance of agony flashing briefly through her head. "War is inevitable, and I would have it fought on my terms and no one else's."

"The grimm would overrun humanity! We'd all be destroyed!" Yang shouted.

"Are you truly foolish enough to believe that?" Brutus growled. "If you believe that the grimm's so called _mindless_ violence will end in the capitulation of your entire species, then you and your headmaster need to have quite the talk."

"What happens when you win, when all the kingdoms are ash and dust and you're on top of it all? You plan to rule over us like some kind of despot?" Weiss questioned angrily, her arms crossing over her bust.

"Mankind needs a ruler, it must have one that is beyond the coil of frailty, a ruler that understands the savagery it is capable of. A ruler that can be the hand that feeds, and the hand that punishes."

"Fascism, you plan to install a fascist government and rule the world, you're little more than a power-hungry evil man." Blake accused, jabbing at him angrily. "You're no different than anyone else who wants to rule the world! A cruel man who follows his cruel nature!"

Brutus sighed, taking another step down his throne, getting face to face with the faunas. "Hypocrite that you are, labelling that which you do not understand to be evil. Every fiber of my being screams for blood to be shed, to destroy everything and let it ruin."

Brutus leaned down to stare her in the face. "Perhaps in this you are correct, but I desire freedom for the very species that birthed me. I was born of the murder of two brothers, an event so ingrained in humanity's history that it has tied me to every soul, living or dead, or even in between as your beloved headmaster has caused. Already he has caused death and destruction on a scale even I cannot hope yet to match. Man is tired of Ozpin's and the Grimm's ceaseless war, and it has created me to stop it."

"You're not a god!" Blake countered.

"No, but I have looked upon the throne of humanity's gods, and they are empty. Mankind, in its myriad of forms has been abandoned, and a godless society cannot stand."

Brutus straightened, his body swelling as his power rose. "And if I must force myself to godhood to ensure the safety of those I love, so be it."

"You're mad." Weiss swore.

"No, I am determined."

A shudder ran through the room, through the very fabric of whatever passed for reality here. The very space around them flexed and twitched, undulating like muscles and flesh.

Brutus pushed them back towards the portal at the other end of the room. "You must go, the time for my return is nigh at hand. Be ready for the darkness to come, for I shall start this war in earnest." He turned his gaze to his sisters. "Yang, Ruby. I love you both, and you have made me proud, stay strong for what is to happen, and remember, that I do this to enaure your futures as well as my own people's."

(@)

 ** _The time is nigh, friends. Brutus's return is coming and like any birth, it will be bloody._**

 ** _Some reasoning as to why Brutus is doing what he's doing. Hopefully I made it clear without stating it outright._**

 ** _Til next time y'all._**


	45. Chapter 45

Jaccar was bustling, soldiers rushed to and fro, crates filled with strange cylinders that glowed and eerie and sickly red light clutched in their armored hands. Praetorians marched throughout the streets, voice boxes booming with their horribly synthesized calls to soldiers and civilians alike. Bullheads, some still sporting kingdom markings, obviously stolen or purchased, sped through the air, cargo suspended underneath them via massive cables and their holds bursting with weapons crates and rations.

Final drills could be heard outside the palace, where irate officers screamed at fresh recruits. Scarlet Guards decorated the halls of the palace, keeping the place of the Praetorians, who were all but deployed en masse to the various sites around the city where they were needed to ensure everything went well with the rapid mobilization of Jaccars several military orders.

The Legion gathered down in the courtyard, hundreds of men and women armed and ready to serve and die for their king.

Army personnel marched down the wide roads to the only port the city had, ready to be shuffled into holds and loaded into bullheads and fighters, and, to Ambers slight worry, bombers.

Auxiliaries were stationed on every street corner, trying to keep the flow of traffic going, and to hold back the hordes of crying children trying to see what was going on.

"You sure you don't want to come watch? It's a lovely sight." Amber asked with a slight tilt of her head. Recieving silence in return, she sighed and set down her wine glass, turning fully to the teens gathered behind her. "He has his reasons, your brother. You should try to at least show a _little_ gratitiude."

Yang snorted, her arms crossed over her chest. "Gratitude for what? Raising an army so he can burn down our home?." She fixed Amber with an angry glare. "Forgive me if I forget to say thanks."

"You probably would have died on that train, he pulled you out of a scenario that you had no business being in. You cost this kingdom lives, Yang. People, Soldiers, are dead because you four couldn't mind yourselves." Amber swiped a hand around her, gesturing to the room. "And what has your brother done, even after you cost him time, money, and lives? He saved your lives, brought you into his home, and is offering you citizenship, and you four have just spat it back in his face."

Amber sighed again, turning and picking up her wine glass. "But what can I expect? You're fucking children." She cursed, the word leaving a foul taste in her mouth, she swished it around trying to get rid of the taste before deciding to drown it in more wine.

Which she really shouldn't be drinking.

Setting the glass down once again, she sighed. She couldn't fight, she couldn't fuck, she couldn't drink, she couldn't sit in a hot tub.

Where were the perks of being a mother she heard about so much? Sure she got the best seats on vehicles, but was that because she was pregnant or that she was queen?

Her head ached a little at the thought of not being able to drink, especially with this lot. They understood _nothing_ about why their brother was doing this, about all the wrongs he saw, or all the wrongs he had committed, and all the wrongs he had righted.

They understood _nothing_ about the world her husband, her king, was trying to create and rule.

Sighing _again,_ Amber turned to Yang and her friends once again.

"Come, I want to show you something, perhaps you will understand then."

"Where are we going?" Blake asked, her voice dripping vitriol.

"I am going to show you something that made me aware of just how much is at stake for not only Jaccar, but for those living outside the kingdoms as well."

They walked out of the room, gheir contingent of Scarlet guard following closely behind, well more than double team Rwby's number, but each one more experienced and, _hopefully,_ better trained. The group walked in silence, turning down halls and corridors before finally boarding a tram system sequestered im its own station off of the main hall of the palace.

The tram started up silently, moving into a darkened tunnel. Amber felt, as she was sure the rest of the group did too, the effects of translation into the aether, and the sudden feeling of weightlessness that came with it, and then the sudden drop in her guts as they re-emerged back into reality. The trip covered several miles, in reality at least, but only a few hundred feet in the aether.

If you could even measure distance in that place.

The group exited the tram, green faced and wobbling a bit, save for the guards and Amber herself of course. They filed into a massive building, built almost like a giant cathedral covered in runed stone, spanning from the streets to almost rival the Palace in height itself. Reaching thousands of feet into the air, The Jaccaran Royal Hospital towered like a massive crypt.

Which, in some ways, it was.

The group entered the structure, being greeted by sterile tile bathed in equally sterile light, a woman with blonde hair and pointed teeth, as well as what looked to be the beginning of gills peeking through her shirt smiled and waved as Amber walked in.

Amber waved back, but did not say anything, walking past the receptionist, and her desk hidden beneath mountains of papers. The group walked past more halls, and medical rooms, before coming to a large door with a neon-lit sign hanging over it.

 ** _Maternity Ward._** Amber pushed her way through the doors, steeling herself.

They passed more hospital rooms, before stopping in front of one in particular.

"I want you to understand the why of things, and just how much of a boon your brothers presence is on people outside the kingdom's walls, as well as those so far out they've never seen so much as a bullhead."

Amber opened the room, and ushered the group inside, leaving the guards to stand outside and look important.

Inside was a woman, her newborn son nursing gently at her breast. Her face was a jumble of scars, and mismatched flesh where skingrafts had been necessary. Her eyes were covered by a thick white bandage, looping around her head several times.

Her chest, much of it visible, was covered in scars, both surgical and not. patches of burned flesh, as well as a brand on one side of her chest, underneath her collarbone, said, in hastily cut letters "Whore."

Her fingers, of which she was missing several, clutched around her baby gently.

"This is Violet Anders, she was found by a Legion patrol almost a year back. She can't hear us, the people who did this poured dust down her ears and lit it, she can't see us either, they cut out her tongue with what we suspect was a pair of garden shears, and she can't see us either, they cut her eyes out."

Amber gestured to the infant.

"This is Cobalt Anders, he's a rape baby, and thanks to your brother, healthy and alive, just like his mother. Both of them owe their lives to your brother. She lived so far away from Vale that the only law there was enforced by bandits, and you can see what happens to those who don't pay their taxes."

Amber walked forward and gently placed a hand on the womans shoulder, who flinched heavily at the unexpected contact, but relaxed when no pain came about.

"She's one of many that our forces have recovered." Amber sighed, before turning back to the teens. "Brutus sees these things, and do you want to know what he thinks?" Amber scanned the room. "He's terrified that this could have happened to his family, to his, to _your_ , mother." Amber corrected quickly.

"Most of the babies that are born in Jaccar are rape children, their mothers taken from the various dust mines, only to die in childbirth because they were too malnourished to survive. Their children die soon after, as well." Amber let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. "For these people, Jaccar and Brutus are the only hope they'll ever have, for anything. Your brother is not a philanthropist, but he's not some power hungry warlord looking to sew chaos for the sake of sewing chaos. He understands that Vale _has_ to fall."

"B-But why? Why can't Jaccar and Vale work together? Bring about a new age of peace for people like this?" Blake stammered.

"Because it is inevitable that Vale be destroyed, the government that did nothing to deter such atrocities and at times, was downright complicit in them, must be cut out. No trace of Vale's government, its politicians, or its corruotion can be allowed to remain. Did you know that six of the nine members on Vale's council have sex slaves? Or that the other three are ties so intrinsically to criminal drug factories that the police are outright banned from going near the districts the factories are in?."

Amber smiled, it was empty and hollow. "I spent most of my life fighting for a city like that, where its bureaucracy was so corrupt that there were laws designed to protect the very people that were corrupt?"

Amber turned to look out the window, watching the dozens of bullheads flitter by like flies in the distance. "Jaccar is none of that, we're not dedicated to ourselves, we're not dedicated to money, or power or fame, we're dedicated to the idea of Jaccar itself. A kingdom where every man and every woman, no matter their creed, race, or status can strive for the betterment of humanity as a whole, both Human and Faunas. Where the future is recognized and measured not by profit or gains and losses, but by the safety of our children, and the sanctity of their futures."

Amber sighed happily. "It's a lovely thing your brother built, it's a hopeful thing, and it's a beautiful thing. The laws don't constrict, the people are united, and the air is clean to breathe and children are able to play in the streets. There are plenty of jobs, and plenty of room to grow into, and plenty of land to take up."

Amber turned back to the girls, quickly ushering them out of the room and back into the hallway. "Vale will be destroyed, but its people will become our people, its land our land, and its problems our problems. It is a responsibility, burden and privilege all in one, and Brutus is the only man capable of bearing it."

Amber began back down the hall, exiting the building shortly after with the guards and students in tow. "A new dawn is rising, Yang, Ruby, Blake and Weiss." She looked at each of them in time with their names. "And Brutus Rose, High King of Jaccar, Liberator of slaves, The Benevolent Ruination himself, bears the sun on his back."

 ** _A\N: I'm back after a hiatus, sorry. Life came hard and fast._**


End file.
